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ALONG SHORE 



WITH A MAN-OF-WAR 



MARGUERITE DICKINS 




BOSTON, MASS.: 

COPLEY SQUAEE, 
1893. 



'b 



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Copyrighted, 1893, 

BY 

MARGUERITE DICKINS. 

ALL BIGHTS RESERVED. 



Arena Press. 



INTRODUCTION. 



When I first joined the United States Navy, by means of a 
marriage certificate, I found that a properly equipped sailor 
carried the Spanish language in his mental kit, so I acquired it 
and have enjoyed the possession immensely, especially when 
taking the journey of which this book gives all the details that 
I thought would please the public. 

For two years and a half I sailed up and down the east coast 
of South America ; seeing the lovely scenery ; meeting the 
officials, and private families ; talking to and visiting them ; 
reading the books they loaned me, or I could buy, until I felt 
quite at home among them and made many friends. 

My letters home were so much enjoyed, and so many have 
praised those of them that were published in the press, that I 
venture to test the value and sincerity of their words by launch- 
ing these letters in a volume, trusting they may help to pleas- 
antly wile away some hours for some one. 

MARGUERITE DICKINS. 






TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



Chapter 

I. 

II. 

III. 

IV. 

V. 

VI. 

VII. 

VIII. 

IX. 

X. 

XI. 

XII. 

XIII. 

XIV. 

XV. 

XVI. 

XVII. 

XVIII. 

XIX. 

XX. 

XXI. 

XXII. 

XXIII. 

XXIV. 

XXV. 
XXVI. 

XXVII. 
XXVIII. 

XXIX. 

XXX. 

XXXI. 



Mouth of the Amazon 

City of Maranham . 

City of Pernambuco 

City of Bahia 

Rio de Janeiro 

Rio de Janeiro 

Rio de Janeiro 

The Rio de La Plata — Montevideo 

Scenes in Montevideo 

Ostriches in Uruguay — Visit to Senor Sapello's 

Bird Farm near Piedras 
Closing Ceremonies of a Congress of Southern 

.Republics 
Hotels in Montevideo — The Favorite Bathing 

Resorts 
The Carnival Season in the gay Capital of 

Uruguay 
A Bull-fight in Montevideo 
City of Buenos Ayres 
Shops of Buenos Ayres 
Objects of Interest in the Suburbs of Buenos 

Ayres ..... 
The City of La Plata 

Up the Uruguay River — City of Colonia 
Paysandu and the Capital of Entre Rios 
Up the River Uruguay — Nueva Palmyra 
Fray Bentos . 
Afloat on the Parana 
Up The Great River to the 

Rosario 
A Trip to Cordoba 
From Rosario to Santa Elena 

Way . 
La Paz to Corrientes 
The City of Asuncion — Eleven Hundred Miles 

up the Parana and Paraguay 
The Place of Lopez .... 

The Anniversary of the Independence of Para 

guay ...... 

Suburbs of Asuncion .... 



Modern City of 



and Cities by the 



Page 

7 

i4 
19 

24 

3° 
40 
48 
59 
67 

77 

85 

93 

100 
107 
117 
124 

131 

138 
M5 
iS8 
163 
169 

175 

182 
189 

206 
213 

219 

225 

232 

237 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Portrait of Author. 

U.S.S. Tallapoosa, Montevideo Harbor. 

Group of Palms, Brazil. 

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. 

Avenue of Palms, Botanical Garden, Rio de Janeiro. 

Tijuca, Brazil. 

Montevideo, From the Cerro. 

Independence Square, Montevideo. 

Victoria Square, Buenos Ayres. 

Group of Americans, Cordoba, Argentine. 

Handkerchief Paraguayan Lace. 



ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR 



MOUTH OF THE AMAZON. 

SCENES IN THE CITY OF PARA — TROY-MADE CARS ON THE 
STREET RAILROADS — THE HOTELS AND MARKETS — A VISIT 
TO " MONKEY JOE'S " — THE CLIMATE AND PEOPLE. 

A long stretch of sanely beach to the south, masses of tum- 
bled, dirty water to the north, and a narrow winding channel 
beneath our keel ; this was the mouth of the mighty Amazon- 
And things did not improve much as we made our way up. 
The sky line of Marajo Island is a dead level : a distant line of 
tropical forest, unbroken and uninteresting, except as one 
peoples it with animals, savages, birds, flowers or anything else 
that fancy suggests, according as one's imagination is inclined 
to the beautiful or the savage. The right bank we gradually 



8 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 

approached, and here and there was a clearing, with a red-roofed 
house, or perhaps there was a glimpse of the roofs of a tiny vil- 
lage, all the roofs of the same bright red tiles, which were 
evidently made in the many brick-yards that nestled close down 
to the water against the bank or perched on some tiny bluff. 

The tiles that they make are like the old curved Dutch ones, 
and are used exclusively for roofs. The bricks are shaped like 
a small carpenter's square when viewed end on, and have three 
square openings clear through them ; they are also longer and 
broader than our bricks. As we approached Para there were 
islands near us which narrowed the channel until we seemed 
really to be in a river. Still, the islands and banks were not 
attractive — always low and monotonous, the dense growth of 
trees reaching down to and often dipping into the water, the 
masses of vines running over and drooping from them. The 
occasional bits of slimy bank all looked gloomy, forbidding, and 
miasmatic, in spite of the blending of the beautiful shades of 
green in the different plants. 

About G:30 our anchor dropped, and we swung into our berth 
off the City of Para, but had hardly more than a glimpse of her 
shining buildings before the sun set, and in three minutes it 
was dark, the stars above, twinkling lamplights in the city, and 
numerous bonfires alone lighting up in a vague way the city. 
It was a feast clay, hence the bonfires before the churches, the 
band of music playing loudly, and the rockets which went up 



ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 9 

from all parts of the place. The next day we went ashore early, 
and landed at a nice covered wharf — a wharf is a luxury any 
one who has traveled much appreciates, and a covered one 
is more than luxury. 

First we found a long, narrow park fronting the river, 
planted with palm trees, and around the base of one was a 
group of half-naked, brown-skinned boys, gambling with their 
copper pennies, and they were much amused when I resented 
their calling me English ; but I know by experience that to the 
South American, to be a citizen of the United States is to be a 
friend, and to be English is the contrary. Behind the park, 
facing the river, is a row of large two-storied buildings, their 
fronts entirely covered with glazed tiles. The effect was 
beautiful as they shone and sparkled in the tropical sun, and 
as most of the buildings and residences in the city were en- 
tirely covered with these tiles, brought from Portugal, you can 
fancy what a gay city it is. The bank building, where we 
changed some money, was covered with pale green tiles, a pink 
conventional rose in relief being in the center of each one. 
Apropos of money, for an English sovereign we received 11,000 
paper reis, a rei being the unit of value used in Brazil. The 
smallest copper coin used is a piece of twenty reis — one cent — ■ 
and what one uses most commonly are the one and two 
hundred nickel reis pieces, and the one, two, five, and ten 
mil — thousand — reis bank notes. Their paper money, like 



10 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 

that of most of the world, is made by the American Bank 
Note Company of New York, and is very pretty when new. 

We went to the market, walking along one of the 
many paved streets with stone sidewalks, and found it in a 
large white-washed building which had a court or patio 
in the center. A patio is a closed or open court, with or 
without flowers in it, and often forming the chief feature 
in a house. There were piles of fruit all about on the 
stands ; among them, bananas of many varieties, pine-apples, 
avocates, sapodillas, cocoa-nuts, oranges, limes, and many 
others that were new to me. Two stands had decorated 
gourds ; there were a few chattering monkeys, screaming 
parrots, and smaller birds. There were a few Brazil nuts, 
both in and out of the husk, but it was not the season 
for them, and I here learned that the sole source of the 
world's supply was the Upper Amazon. The natives, who 
brino- them down in bio- canoes, are often a month on the 
voyage down and two or three on the return, if they ever 
return, for they often break up their canoes and remain 
in Para, appalled by the difficulties of the return trip 
against the swift river. 

The street cars are like the open ones we use in summer, 
and were made by John Stephenson, of Troy, N. Y. They 
are drawn by two fair-sized rats with long ears, which are 
called mules to natter them. They go at a gallop most 



ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 11 

of the time, and as the tracks are much neglected and in a 
state to give you sudden surprises, you wish you had the 
driving to do. Some one must have had carte-blanche given 
him to put down street-car tracks, for they are on all of the 
principal, all of the side streets, and most of the alleys, be- 
sides running well out into the country. Most of the streets 
are shaded by mango trees. This tree has a large trunk 
with a smooth bark; the foliage is bright green and very 
dense; the fruit about the size of a goose egg, smooth, 
bright yellow, the pulp clinging firmly to the pit; it is also 
sweet and. tastes strongly of turpentine. There is a stretch 
of palms down one street that they seemed very proud of, 
and they were beautiful; but palms are indigenous, and if 
they like them so much, why not have a lot? The tiled 
houses, situated behind gardens full of blooming plants, 
looked lovely, and the wild, luxuriant growths in the sub- 
urbs were fascinating ; but we could not linger long, as the 
thermometer stood at about 120 ° , and every one but myself 
complained of the heat. 

We went to the principal hotel and had a poor dinner, 
with good native wine, in a nice, cool, clean room, with 
blooming plants on the balconies, through which we looked 
at the crowded streets below. Water is taken to the houses 
in bie barrels mounted on wheels and drawn by the tiniest 
oxen and bulls; they are hardly larger than a calf. The 



12 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 

men's dress, among the lower class, is a cotton shirt and 
trousers; the women's dress is more gay and decidedly pict- 
uresque; long trailing gowns of bright-hued cotton goods 
cut low-neck and without sleeves, their hair combed back 
over a high cushion, and this exaggerated pompadour puff 
ornamented with any number of natural flowers, put in ap- 
parently as we stick pins in a pin-cushion. 

After dinner we started for " Monkey Joe's," his commer- 
cial name, and on the way passed many commission houses 
that deal in rubber, nuts, chocolate, beans, and so on. The 
rubber is in large, round, dark-colored lumps, and most of it 
well mixed with sand and small sticks. It is sewed up in 
burlaps and tin-tags put on to mark it ; when one of these 
bundles drops into the hold of a ship it bounds up again as 
if it were alive. " Monkey Joe " had no fine onca skins, 
but promised to get one soon for one of our party. The 
onca is the native leopard of South America, and grows to 
an immense size. The markings are beautiful, and the 
natives generally call them tigers. Joe's stock of live ani- 
mals was low ; he had only a sloth, an electric eel, and a 
splendid boa-constrictor. The latter was wandering around 
at will, and when a drunken native took hold of its head 
and began hitting it on the floor to wake it up we left, but 
not before we had seen the Sapucaia nut, which grows in a 
bowl-shaped pod, with a cover that can be taken off and 



ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 13 

put on again. The inside bark of the tree is used to make 
coarse brooms for sweeping streets and such purposes. We 
also secured some beetles and tonka-beans. 

Para is a growing, busy place, and is bound to be a great 
emporium, as it is a distributing point for an immense in- 
terior. The climate is deadly — as bad as that of the Isthmus — 
and besides fevers, there is a disease called beri-beri, which 
does not seem to be very well understood. A lady who 
was dying of it told me it was like creeping paralysis. 
Para is a name given to the city by traders, and it has now 
been accepted by the government, but the original name 
was Belem — Bethlehem. 



II. 

CITY OF MARANHAM. 

A QUAINT OLD CITY THAT HAS SEEN ITS BEST DAYS — THE 
STREETS AND PLAZAS — THE BISHOP'S COMFORTABLE PAL- 
ACE AND CHARMING GARDEN — OTHER PLACES OF IN- 
TEREST. 

Often when picking their way over piles of rubbish and 
building materials that so frequently encumber our streets, I 
have heard people wish that they could once find a town 
that was finished. They ought to visit Maranham, which 
was our next jDort after Para. Maranham is finished, and is 
rapidly decaying ; the city was once large and thriving, its port 
filled with vessels of many nations ; but the climate and beri-beri 
have done their work ; the harbor is almost deserted, and 
a melancholy air of decay and mold pervades the place. The 
channel is winding, and as the pilot wished to give himself all 
the chances, he waited until high tide, which came at nine 
o'clock in the evening. 

Then, in the bright moonlight, he took us in, gradually 
approaching a half-ruined old fort which was built by the 



ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 15 

Dutch when they held this part of the coast. The fort is 
built on an island, and behind it was a lovely landlocked 
bay, the lights of the city gleaming in tiers on the farther 
side, as the streets of the city wandered here and there on 
the steep hill side. Early next morning we were on deck, 
ready to go on shore, but Ave had to wait a few minutes for 
a tropical shower to pass over. It poured down as if all 
the flood-gates were opened, for a few minutes, then the 
heavy clouds moved on, the sun came out, the boatman 
pulled the cover off his boat, and, stepping in, we were 
rapidly pulled ashore. 

We landed at a low, old, stone water battery, with a few 
miserable cannon mounted here and there, en barbette, upon 
it. From here we walked up a very steep street, and found 
ourselves in a long, rather narrow plaza, with four rows of 
palm trees and some scanty grass growing in it. On the side 
next the bay was a long, two-storied yellow building called 
the palace. Every door and window stood open, and here and 
there were officers or soldiers loafing on the balconies and at 
the main entrance, smoking cigarettes. There were some nice 
houses on the other side of the plaza, covered with glazed tiles ; 
their gardens full of flowers, with fountains and seats, the 
latter made of adobe and also covered with glazed tiles. In 
front of the palace we took a street-car, drawn by two tiny 
mules scarcely larger than those at Para, and they took us 



16 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 

through narrow streets, keeping pretty well on the ridge of 
the hill next the bay until we reached the Plaza Remedios. 

This plaza is a large, long terrace, commanding a very 
beautiful view of the harbor, with its shipping, city, and outer 
bay. It is rather ill-kept, but there were a good many fine 
palm trees and a fairly good statue of Goncalves Diaz, the poet. 
Behind the plaza was the large stucco palace of the bishop, and 
as we could catch a glimpse of a lovely garden through a gate, 
we rane the bell and asked if we could see it. Antonio Cudido 
da Alnerenga, bishop of Maranham, was not at home, having 
gone on a trip into the interior for the benefit of his health ; 
but the young man in charge, who seemed to be all alone in the 
immense building, said he would show us about with pleasure. 

The palace is built along two sides of a square, the other 
two sides being enclosed by a brick wall, thus hiding the 
lovely garden from the world, except as you get a glimpse 
through the gate. The building is a story and a half in height 
or one story with a high basement, and you enter by a long 
flight of steps through big double doors. The hall is a wide, 
generous one, and runs clear around the building, one side 
being entirely of glass to give an uninterrupted view of the 
garden ; the other side has numerous doors which lead into 
different rooms. We were shown a reception room and a 
parlor, the furniture in each being arranged in the Spanish 
style ; that is, a sofa placed against the wall, extending from 



ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. \J 

the sofa out towards the center of the room, tAvo rows of chairs, 
facing each other, and in the center of the room a table. 
In the parlor there were two arrangements of this kind. The 
sofa is the seat of honor, and here the most distinguished 
guest sits with the host or hostess. There were plenty of em- 
broidered cushions on the sofas, and over one hung a picture 
of the bishop in his robes. He had a fine, pleasing, Spanish 
face. 

The chapel was neat, small and in good order ; the altar 
having nothing worthy of note upon it. The dining-room was 
large and cheerful, with a large stone terrace outside the 
windows, and from this terrace one overlooked the Plaza 
Remedios and the lovely view beyond. The garden was 
divided into two parts by a terrace, the upper part being 
filled with fruit trees, while the lower was a mass of bloom — 
hibiscus, four-o'clocks, cypress vine, tea roses, and chrysan- 
themums hobnobbishly, with the numerous tropical flowers, 
making the place a delight. The cistern and bath-house 
were of glazed tiles and the latter looked so cool and refreshing 
that one longed for a dip in the large sunken tub. 

We took a car back to the street nearest the market and then 
got out and walked down the very narrow, steep thing called 
a street. Luckily it was not wider or it would have held more 
dirt. We stepped into a little shop and bought some pretty 

colored calabashes of a queer little old man, and in the market 

2 



18 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 

I was tempted to buy a cunning little ring-tailed monkey, but 
finally compromised by filling his paws full of bananas, and he 
even took one in his tail and longed to grab more, but five 
were all he could hold. There was very little fruit on the 
stands and nothing else at that time of the day, so we left and 
wandered around the streets, which were generally narrow and 
very dirty in spite of the frequent rains. 

The shops were poor, and to judge by the houses, there is 
very little wealth. We stopped at a cabinetmaker's to see a 
pet onca kitten and found him and his men making very pretty 
furniture of a native red cedar, the odor of which was delicious. 
The tools used were of the clumsiest description. Two men 
were sawing a log into boards with a saw that looked as if it 
were made in the time of Noah. There was nothing peculiar 
about the dress of the people, except the prevalence of patch- 
work calico jackets among the men. 



III. 

) 

CITY OF PERNAMBUCO. 

AN ISLAND WHOSE INHABITANTS ARE CONVICTS — FUNERAL 
CUSTOMS — SUGAR WAREHOUSES — A BRAZILIAN POETESS — 
THE CUSTOM OF KISSING AMONG THE WOMEN. 

Recife, or Pernambuco, as it is now called, looks like a bit 
of Holland from outside the harbor. There are the tall houses 
with the steep roofs, several stories in height, with big gable 
ends, and finally the narrow streets, looking like mere cracks. 
It is built along a rather straight stretch of shore, and it would 
be impossible to have a city there were it not for nature's help, 
in the shape of a high steep-to recife, or reef of rock, which ex- 
tends along in front of the city, and, making a perfect break- 
water, leaves a long, narrow, safe harbor. It is rather narrow 
for all the shipping, so each vessel has to moor, but it is large 
enough, and a wonderful bit of natural work. The part of the 
town next the harbor was all built by the Dutch, and the 
streets are so very narrow that there is not room for two 
wagons to pass. There are street-car lines on nearly all of 



20 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 

them, and as the streets twist and turn in all directions you 
are soon deafened by the noise, bewildered as to direction, and 
disagreeably hustled by passers-by. There is a broad river, 
which winds about through the city, and this gives a chance 
for many pretty effects, and in the new, or Brazilian part of the 
city, they are utilized. Many fine bridges span the stream, and 
gardens run down to it, the palace garden being especially 
pretty in this respect. 

We were invited to spend the day at the home of a mission- 
ary in the suburbs, and were very glad to shut ourselves up in 
their pretty garden, eat sapodillas, talk of Brazil, and forget 
all about the ship. It was a long ride in the street-cars, and we 
obtained a good idea of the city. There was a fine-looking 
opera-house, and just beyond it, while crossing a bridge, we 
saw a flat-boat filled with convicts bound for the convict island 
of San Juan de Naronha, which lies a short distance off the 
coast. They were ordinary looking, dark-skinned natives, and 
sat quietly in their seats. After reading all the histories of 
South American countries I can find, and spending four years 
on the continent, it seems to me that the native Indian, has a 
good deal of belief in Kismet. After a certain amount of resist- 
ance he sits down, shrugs his shoulders, and submits to any 
amount of what seems intolerable cruelty. These men made 
me think of a herd of sheep, surrounded by vigilant, armed 
guards, who sat upon the edges of the boat. I was told that 



ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 21 

during the empire a man would not be given a life sentence, 
but was ordered to San Juan to await the pleasure of the em- 
peror, and then the emperor would forget him. 

Next we saw a hearse going to a child's funeral. It was 
white, wheels and all ; was very tall, and seemed shaky and 
unsteady as it rattled over the poor pavements. The coach- 
man was dressed in scarlet, and the windows of the hearse 
were draped with thin curtains of the same hue. Another 
funeral which we saw was that of a much-esteemed professor, 
and he, contrary to custom, was being carried to church by 
some of his friends and followed by a long line of mourners on 
foot. These mourners were all men, as it does not seem to be 
customary in this country for women to attend funerals, or to 
go anywhere else, for that matter ; but I will speak of this 
again. 

The streets in the new city are broad, and there were 
many pretty houses in the suburbs, surrounded by gardens 
filled, with flowers and shaded by palm and bread-fruit trees. 
The latter are very tall, with glossy, large, dark-green leaves 
that have a great many points and fruit that look like enor- 
mous button-balls showing here and there. I mean by button- 
balls the seed of the sycamore tree. The flower-gardens in 
South America are not at all like ours. When a house is 
built, all the grounds about it are dug up and divided off into 
beds, in which beds are planted the trees and flowers. Some- 



22 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 

times there are tiny boxwood hedges around each bed, but 
generally not. The space between them is graveled or paved 
for walks, and then the grounds are complete, unless a foun- 
tain or statues are added. It is the rarest thing that a blade of 
grass is allowed to grow, and I have only seen one house that 
had what we would call a lawn. Oxen are used a great deal to 
draw the long, narrow carts through the streets, and the 
merchants must be a patient lot if they are satisfied to await 
the delivery of their goods. The natives of the province make 
very pretty pillow-lace that looks something like torchon, and 
they do exquisite drawn work. 

Pernambuco is a great port for the shipment of sugar, and 
there were rows of storehouses for its reception while awaiting 
shipment, and the odor of them was exceedingly disagreeable. 
We got some pine-apples here that are famous along the coast, 
and they were very sweet, but not better than those of Toboga 
Island near Panama. 

When the final emancipation of the slaves was being agitated 
the province of Pernambuco vied with that of Rio Grande do 
Sul in being the most outspoken in favor of freedom. Many 
people of the province voluntarily emancipated those they held 
in bondage, and one wealthy man freed so many that he was 
ennobled by Isabella when she was Princess Imperial and 
Regent. I wanted to see a slave market, but they had been 
abolished before we reached the country. 



ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. i>3 

On the steamer between Pernambuco and Bahb we made 
the acquaintance of a Brazilian poetess. She was short, 
plump, vivacious, and, like all the women of her nation, 
exceedingly fond of kissing. Every morning she would rush 
up and embrace me, kissing each cheek in turn, and then 
apologize by saying : " You know I am a Brazilian." She 
had a nice little girl, but oh, she was so frail and delicate, 
I fear she has gone aloft before now, yet hope not, for she was 
her mother's idol. The husband did not count for much, a 
neutral, colorless man. This custom of kissing every woman 
I met did not recommend itself to me, yet it was necessary 
to not only accept but practice it. However, I drew the line 
at dress-makers and lace women, although one lace woman 
got ahead of me by the suddenness of her attack. 



IV. 
CITY OF BAHIA. 

A.RRIVAL AT RIO JANEIRO, WHICH HAS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL 
HARBOR IN THE WORLD — A PICTURESQUE BACKGROUND 
OF MOUNTAINS — SCENES AT THE CUSTOM HOUSE. 

Our next port was San Salvador en Bahia de todos los 

Santos, or Bahia Bay, as it is generally called. It is built 
on one side of a beautiful bay, with lovely islands in it, and 
consists of the lower and upper town. The lower is very 
long and narrow, nestling between the bay and a steep cliff ; 
it consists of three or four streets, used principally, with the 
exception of the market, by large merchants who have their 
storehouses there. The main part of the city is built on top 
of the bluff, and extends way out into the country. We went 
ashore as early as possible so as to see the market, and when 
we first landed we seemed to have stepped into fairyland. 
Great African negresses, some of them with tatooed faces, 
sat guarding piles of luscious fruit, their large forms draped 
in white cotton gowns cut low in the neck. Tliey all wore 
necklaces, bracelets, and ear-rings, and here and there was a 
turban. Lounaring about were their mates, who are much val- 



ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 25 

ued as porters. They are all of pure African blood, and keep 
to themselves, disdaining alliance with any other race. The 
oranges these woman sold us are the finest in the world ; you 
eat none like them anywhere else. They will average a 
pound in weight ; the rind is soft and brittle, which prevents 
their transportation— the juice is very sweet and high-flavored ; 
they are also seedless. They are the navel orange, and those 
of Florida are a poor offspring of plants from Bahia ; it needs 
its climate, soil, and sunny slopes to produce the perfect 
fruit. There were piles of lemons, limes, pine-apples, sapo- 
dillas, bananas ; vegetables of many kinds ; coops of chickens 
and doves ; stalls of native pottery, red, with white ornamenta- 
tion ; piles of cages with small birds ; rows of parrots, cocka- 
toos, big blue and red macaws ; numberless monkeys, from the 
tiny little marmosets to big ring-tails — prehensile tails ; quan- 
tities of wicker-work; kiosks where coffee, and a number 
of drinks made from different fruits were sold; in short, 
a tropical market. 

We stayed there some time and then took an elevator at the 
base of the bluff and were hoisted by steam to the top. Here 
we found the usual Brazilian city, and we rode all about it, 
finally alighting at the public gardens, which have been beauti- 
ful, but now are much neglected. There were some beautiful 
mango and palm trees and what had been a fine lot of flower 
beds, but the ants had gotten at them and not much remained. 



26 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 

There was a rather plain monument to the regent John, and 
the remains of a large tiled terrace just on the edge of the bluff, 
with broken statues and tiled seats. From here we had a 
lovely view of the curving bay, with its green shores, blue 
waters, and many vessels riding quietly at anchor, the whole 
scene illuminated by the brilliant sun. Next the terrace was 
the fort of St. George. We heard drums rolling, and a 
brilliant looking officer on a white horse came out and rode 
away. We visited a diamond merchant and saw some beautiful 
gems from the adjacent mines, cut and uncut. This is also a 
great city for the manufacture of feather-flowers ; they are 
carefully made and are beautiful, because the birds of Brazil 
furnish feathers of all colors and shades, as nature can be 
copied very closely in unfading tints. Bundles are carried on 
the head, regardless of the size. One sees a woman stalking 
along with a tiny bundle poised on high, another with a 
large basket of oranges, carrying it with apparently the same 
ease ; but when six men get a piano on their heads they 
move slowly, and are careful to keep step. 

Early one morning we were awakened by a loud knocking 
at the stateroom door, and a voice announced that the captain 
sent his compliments, and we were to come up on the bridge 
as soon as possible, for we were very near Rio. It was pitch 
dark, but we scrambled into our clothes and reached the 
pilot-house just as the day was breaking. To our left we 



ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 27 

could see a low island with a light-house on it, the light 
burning brightly, and to the right the islands of Mai and Pai, 
while in front of us rose ranges of high towering mountains, 
seemingly an impenetrable mass. However, as the day grew 
brighter, we saw . a broad, clean-cut opening in the nearest 
chain, and this was the entrance to the most beautiful harbor 
in the world. The mountains to the left of the entrance 
gradually assumed the form of a giant lying on his back, 
the face and feet being especially plain. Gradually the sun 
began to appear, and then we were near enough to see the 
beautiful, waving palms standing out from the masses of 
brilliant green foliage that covered each and every mountain 
from its base to its summit. Here and there a white house 
caught the light and shone like a gem. In the distance 
were ranges of mountains, some gray where they lay in the 
shadow, some pink where the sun had reached them, varied 
in shape, graceful in outline, covered with magnificent 
growths. The mountains about Rio stand unequaled, unsur- 
passed. The water was blue as a sapphire, and as we plowed 
our way through it up the bay, we first saw a fort, then, on the 
opposite side of the bay, Botofoga, with its white and yellow 
houses clustered about it, and from there, for miles stretching 
along at the foot of the mountains, following each bend of the 
slope, built over the foothills, and even extending up on to the 
nearest mountains, was the beautiful city of Rio de Janeiro, 



28 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 

or Saint Sebastian, as it was formerly called. The beautiful 
blue waters, the curves and bends of the shore, followed by 
the beautiful city, the low hills covered with gleaming white 
houses, churches, and gardens, the background of beautiful 
mountains that stretch north, south, and west and sweep 
around the bay, and the blue sky over all, made a picture 
that, once seen, you could never forget. 

Did you ever cherish a dream for years and suddenly wake 
to find it realized ? Well, I had dreamed of the tropics and 
eagerly read all I could find about them, until my mind was 
filled with dreams of waving palms, luxuriant strange growths, 
forests where every tree was strange, where creepers twined 
and twisted about, and the great brilliant orchid flowers vied 
with the butterflies. Then I went to the tropics, and dis- 
appointment met me on every side, even on the Isthmus of 
Panama, and I felt my dream was but a dream, never to be 
realized. When, lo ! I enter the harbor of Rio, and all I 
asked and more lies before me, and one can never be dis- 
appointed, disenchanted, for at the end of the dirtiest, narrowest 
street there is always a vista of lovely mountains that is fine 
enough to lift you above the dirt and bad odors. However, 
the city is an unusually clean one, and the narrow streets 
are not by any means as numerous as the wide ones. We 
steamed past the man-of-war anchorage and slowed down off 
the custom-house, while the immense mail we carried was 



ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 29 

dropped over the side, and then we proceeded on onr way up 
to our own anchorage off the old part of the city. A launch 
was sent for us, and taking a boat in tow, which held our 
baggage, we were soon at the custom-house wharf, and were 
welcomed by the- officials with bows, and handed chairs to 
occupy until the trunks arrived. The first thing I noticed was 
the number of men going about with their jaws tied up and 
plaid shawls over their shoulders. I afterwards saw a great 
many in the same rig, but never could find out what was the 
matter with them. They were as grave, solemn, and polite 
as the other people, yet you had to control your desire to 
smile audibly as one after another struck your eye. When the 
trunks came we were requested, with many bows, to be good 
enough to unlock them, and here we began to practice the 
system of bowing that is prevalent all over this continent. No 
matter what trouble you put a person to if you smile and bow, 
and say, thank you, just before leaving, they count all their 
trouble as nothing. We were bowed to and thanked for 
unlocking the trunks. Each tray was lifted out and imme- 
diately put back and the trunks locked. There were many 
apologies for the trouble they had given us, and we were 
profuse with our assertions that we had not been inconven- 
ienced. Everybody bowed and bowed, and we walked out with 
a gentleman from the steamship company who had been sent 
to see us safe at our hotel. 



V. 

RIO DE JANEIRO. 

THE SUBURBS OF THE CAPITAL — BY CABLE ROAD TO THE 
RESERVOIRS THAT SUPPLY THE CITY — COMFORTS OF A 
BRAZILIAN HOTEL — ASCENT OF THE CORCOVADO — WON- 
DERFUL LAND AND SEA VIEWS. 

Tbere is one especially beautiful walk in the suburbs of Rio 
de Janeiro, which is known as Santa Teresa, and we were soon 
introduced to it by our friends. Leaving a street-car, or bonde, 
as they are called there, in a narrow street, one enters quite a 
good-sized station, placed at the foot of one of the mountains, 
and finds a cable-car waiting. The platform inclines steeply, 
while one end of the car is much lower than the other. The 
track seems to go straight up a precipice, and is built on a 
jutting ledge or spur, the cable being worked from the top. 
The track is about 1,000 yards long, and as the car went up 
there were lovely views of the city, bay, and mountains to 
enjoy. 

Nictherog, a small city across the bay, looked especially 
pretty, all its houses white in the dazzling sunshine. Steep 



ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 31 

banks came close up to the track on either side, but they 
were not too steep to be clothed with shrubs and trees, and 
the coffee trees had berries, which then were bright and red, 
all ready to eat ; the pulp around the seeds tasting slightly 
sweet and not unpleasant, but still a long way from our 
cherries that they are likened to. 

Arriving at the end of the railway, we take a bonde, 
drawn by four mules, which stands waiting, and is dragged 
still further up, but here the road is laid out on a sort of 
natural terrace, with houses and villas on either side, some 
of them boasting lovely gardens, and all commanding a 
superb view of part of the city, the upper part of the bay, 
ranges of lofty mountains, and beautiful valleys over which 
clouds are always floating, casting wonderful shadows. One 
rich valley lies just beneath them, and one would fancy the 
happy dwellers on these heights would spend all their lives 
gazing on the perfect scene with never-ending delight. The 
mules dash through a little town and come to a halt at the 
beginning of a broad forest road, so well kept that it is 
daily swept with brooms in addition to other attentions. 

A few steps away is the lower reservoir for supplying the 
city, which is surrounded by a pretty little garden full of 
flowers. Benches are placed where they command the grand 
view, and in one corner is a nice little house for the attend- 
ants. There are five tanks, but one is emptied each day to 



32 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 

clean it out, so only four were filled with water, which was 
so clear, bright, and sparkling that one doubly enjoyed 
drinking it while in the city after visiting the reservoir. 
On the left of the broad road is the aqueduct, built by the 
Jesuits in 1746, and it is still the source of water supply 
for the city, trying as best it can to keep pace with the 
growing burg, in which it succeeds pretty well. It is built 
of adobe as strong as stone, and is general^ about five feet 
high. Two cemented ducts are on the bottom of the inside, 
one always in use, and the other kept ready in case of an 
accident. The roof is ridge-shaped, with dormers facing the 
road. Every few feet, in the front of each of these dormers, 
is a small iron grating, and by putting one's ear close to 
any one of them the water can be heard running along inside. 

The road follows the aqueduct and the ridge of the 
mountain until it melts into another grander mountain. It 
lies in the forest its entire length ; coffee and numberless 
other lovely shrubs growing in greatest profusion on either 
side, while closer to the earth were delicate ferns and pretty, 
strange, wild flowers ; the whole shaded by tall palms and 
trees that had nothing familiar about them, some even hav- 
ing three-cornered trunks. The trunks and branches — enough 
of the latter reaching out to arch in the road — were dotted 
every here and there with orchids, plants that flourish here 
on the rich moist air and have strange bright blossoms. 



ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 33 

From tree branch to tree branch hung hundreds of vines, 
some of them large, some small, but all lithe and graceful, 
with every here and there the trunk of a tree half smothered 
in their embrace. 

One can pass hours in this enchanting forest, gazing here 
and there, always discovering some new tree, plant, or other 
growth that had hitherto escaped notice ; and as one passes 
along the road where it winds slowly up the other mountain, 
glimpses are had of the most beautiful views, ever changing, 
ever glorious. No one can describe them, for words fail ; but 
how we enjoyed them, and how often we returned to feast our 
eyes and tried to impress upon our memories their beauty, even 
taking a last walk in the rain rather than miss it ! 

Set close against the steep side of a cleft in the larger mount- 
ain is the upper reservoir, having the same arrangement of 
tanks and the same beautiful water to fill them, only, instead of 
the water entering by an unseen pipe, it literally comes tum- 
bling down from cloudland in tiny rushing streams, which are 
filled each day by showers from the clouds that strike the 
mountain sides or gather about its head and fall in gentle rain- 
Close hj a steep narrow path leads down into Larangeiras, or 
Orange Valley, which is long, narrow, and filled with pretty 
houses and villas, while the bonde line that runs through it 
passes most of the hotels, which reminds me of our hotel, said 

to be one of the best, and, judging by all we saw, it was. 

3 



34 ALONG SHOliE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 

It was two-storied, with a large entrance hall. A small 
office on the left, and on the right the big low-ceiled dining- 
room, where we enjoyed fresh shrimps and other dainties, sur- 
rounded by palms in pots, feeding two or three tame mice that 
came regularly to beg, and watching the natives, — their table 
manners being very good. There was a large patio behind the 
hall, filled with trees, roses, and plants, and around this patio, 
on the upper floor, ran a balcony closed in with blinds. Be- 
tween this balcony and the street were most of the rooms, some 
large, some small, but the ceiling of all about fourteen feet 
high. The floors were bare, the furniture good, but none of it 
matched the bedstead, guiltless of springs, while the pillows 
were stuffed with a sort of cotton gathered from trees, which 
made them so hard that your ears ached in the morning. The 
windows all opened to the floor, each of those on the street 
having a little balcony. There were wooden shutters to them, 
but no frames with glass. It was always too warm to shut 
your room up, and the rain seldom beat in ; it just fell straight 
down and soon ceased. The doors had shutters in them to 
give better ventilation, while everything was neat and clean. 

Among the many beautiful mountains that encircle the bay 
and city, two seem to stand out prominently, and, catching the 
eye day after day, claim your attention. Both are peculiar in 
shape, and their names are descriptive. First comes Pan cle 
Azucar, or Sugar-loaf, its great gray cone of rock sticking up 



ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 85 

smooth and pointed, like an old-time sugar-loaf after the wrap- 
ping of indigo paper was removed. Its precipitous sides are 
so difficult to scale that only hair-brained people attempt it. 
Others are satisfied to admire from a distance and enjoy the 
contrast the bare rock makes with the tropical forest of the 
surrounding peaks. The other was Corcovado, or the Hunch- 
back, which bade us good-morning every day when we opened 
our windows. On the summit is what looks from below like a 
tiny open building, with a pagoda-shaped roof. Near the sum- 
mit was a terrace, along which we sometimes saw a short train 
of cars making its way. 

The city station for this railway is near the upper end of 
Larangieras Valley, a nice little building with a pretty garden 
in front. The trains, which run up and down several times a 
day, consist of an engine and a windowless car, with seats run- 
ning 1 across it. The track has three rails, the outer ones smooth 
and the inner one cogged. The trains run very slowly and the 
slight jar that the cog-wheel makes fitting into the center rail 
is very disagreeable. Otherwise the ride is a delight. There 
are two stations, and at the first one, named Sylvester, the cars 
stop on such a steep incline that there are slats nailed on the 
station platform to keep passengers from slipping as they walk 
along it. 

The second station, near the summit, is called Peinares. 
Here there is a small hotel, with a pretty garden and a 



36 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR, 

shooting gallery. It takes an hour to make the trip up, 
the grade being sometimes nearly 45 degrees, and the sum- 
mit 2,300 feet above the sea. Naturally, the train goes 
slowly, but it is not half slow enough ; one would like to 
crawl through these beautiful forests, so as to see more of 
their beauties and wonders ; the beautiful, strange trees, 
some of immense height and girth, some a mass of blos- 
soms ; foliage of all shades of green, from silver white, 
like our poplars, to the glossy blue-green of the magnolia 
grandiflora. The trunks are round, triangular, small, large, 
straight and smooth, crooked and gnarled ; here, so close 
together that they twine around one another ; there, far 
apart; some have every branch half covered with orchids of 
many varieties, while others are draped with Spanish moss 
or are clean as if polished. There are gorgeous blossoms on 
the orchids, and some of the vines boast lovely ones, too. 

These vines are quite a feature of the forest. They are 
so numerous and so graceful ; one enterprising cabinetmaker 
in the city collected pieces of over 100 varieties, and polish- 
ing the cut ends, made mosaic tops for two tables. One he 
presented to the emperor, and he keeps the other in his 
show-room. It is a beautiful piece of work, some of the 
vines showing different colors in their stems and odd growths. 
The floor of the forest is carpeted with green plants, espe- 
cially ferns, in the greatest variety, from the delicate pale 



ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 37 

green, tiny leaves on hair-like stems to the grand tree-fern 
with a great whorl of delicate leaves, six and seven feet long, 
springing from the soft brown trunk, which sometimes grows 
to a height of ten or twelve feet. 

There are glorious views of mountains, valleys, and bays 
through the trees, so, when the train stops, just below the 
summit, every one eagerly hurries up the few remaining feet, 
anxious to reach the little house and have an uninterrupted 
view. When the house is reached it proves to be a large 
circular iron pavilion, built • by the railway company for a 
restaurant, but it did not pay and has been abandoned. 
Custom was too irregular, as, on days when Corcovado is 
partly or entirely hidden by clouds, of course no one ascends 
to get the view, and cloudy days at the summit are very 
numerous. A few feet below the building a point of rock 
juts toward the sea on the precipitous side of the mountain. 
It is protected by an adobe wall, and from here one gets the 
view he has come so far for. 

To the east, away down below, close to the base, lay part 
of the city and the botanical gardens ; farther out, the har- 
bor's mouth, with its two ends of the inner circle of mount- 
ains, some green islands outside, one with a light-house on 
it ; and then the blue sea, stretching away to the horizon ; 
to the north the main part of the city, the long, narrow 
part of the harbor, which was mistaken for a river by the 



38 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 

first discoverers and called January River — Rio de Janeiro — 
the islands in it and the town of Nictheroy on the farther 
side ; to the west a range of mountains, close at hand, hid 
all but the peaks of the far-off ranges and their own lovely 
woods ; to the south the ranges of mountains extending down 
the coast, some outlying islands, and the sea. 

We gazed untired until the shrill whistle of the engine 
called us back to the train, which went down slowly until 
it reached Peinares. Here it waits for the train coming up, 
and gives time for a cup of coffee in the pretty garden, a 
good long look at the eastern view, and a stroll along a road 
in the forest, by the side of which grew wild, double white 
roses and ferns in profusion. I wonder why it is that people 
who have been to Rio always rave over the botanical gardens, 
to the exclusion of all other natural beauties. Is it because 
those avenues of palms make such beautiful photographs ? 
It is a lovely spot, with stretches of greensward, rare trees, 
plants, and orchids. It is set close at the foot of a mount- 
ain, and the gardeners wage eternal warfare against the 
forest to keep it from encroaching. There are walks shaded 
by bamboo hedges, that meet in a graceful arch overhead, 
and then there are those three royal avenues of royal palms, 
straight and tall, each silvery white trunk rising from its 
bed of green sod, its graceful tuft of leaves, like long 
uncurled ostrich plumes, moving softly in the breeze. They 



ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 39 

are wonderfully beautiful after one has learned to appre- 
ciate palms, and forgotten that Mark Twain said a palm 
tree looked like an umbrella struck by lightning — and here 
one is introduced to them in a striking manner, for, after 
leaving the bonde, we enter at a large, fine gateway and 
straight before us is the main avenue. To the right and 
left stretch the two side avenues, making a letter T. There 
were numbers of butterflies flitting about, but no flowers, 
at least but a few, and how one misses them ! To a bota- 
nist or forest student the pl-ace would be entrancing, but as 
an ordinary traveler, who enjoys best what suits his indi- 
vidual fancy, I prefer the wild forest. 



VI. 

RIO DE JANEIRO. 

IT IS A CLEANLY CITY, TOO PECULIARITIES OF ITS HORSE- 
CAR SYSTEM STREET VENDORS AND HOW THEY CRY 

THEIR WARES THE POLICEMAN'S WAR-WHOOP AND 

WHAT IT MEANS. 

Like an undulating, curving ribbon of white jewels, 
"between the emerald green of the forest-covered mountains 
and the deep blue waters of the bay, lies the city of Rio de 
Janeiro. Surely never had a city so lovely a site before ; the 
glorious sweep of magnificent mountains around its bay, with 
farther ranges showing behind them, until the pipe-like peaks 
of the Organ range show blue and shadowy in the far distance. 
Everywhere that your eye turns, whether you are on the blue 
bay or ashore, a lovely picture of mountains, forest, blue 
waters, and gleaming white houses greets you. And the 
forests that cover these mountains ! They are ideal ; not only 
because of their beauties, their strangeness, and rich coloring, 
but also because of their accessibility ; because one can walk 



ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 41 

about in them, enjoy the trees, flowers, ferns, and numberless 
strange growths, as well as those that are familiar to us, and 
bring a breath of homesickness with their forms, reminding 
us of the distance we have come and the time of exile before 
us. Happiest when warmest, I have always longed for and 
dreamed of the tropics, but I never found the ideal tropics 
until we arrived in Rio. No wonder that imperialism lingered 
there; its last stronghold on this continent. Nowhere else 
had it such a city, such a crown of mountains, and such a 
convenient harbor to sail from when the day of reckoning 
came. 

Our first evening ashore was spent in the large fine theater 
of Dom Pedro II., listening to " Hamlet " given by an excellent 
Italian dramatic troupe. 

I was surprised at the cleanliness of the city. It may not 
he properly sewered, but it is clean, and a great many of the 
streets are wide. All are well paved, with good sidewalks, 
and there is a most excellent street car service. There are 
three kinds of street cars— the open ones, nicely painted 
and appointed, in which one pays ten cents for a ride, and 
must have shoes and stockings on. The second-class or bare- 
foot cars, which are closed, have a tariff of five cents for a ride. 
These cars run on regular routes and follow the rails laid 
down in the streets. The horses and mules are good, and 
there are enough of them to draw the cars, so it is not necessary 



42 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 

for the drivers to beat them, and the company does not allow 
the men to have whips. Crowding is not allowed, and 
when a car is full, it will not stop for any one. The third 
class is a kind of open car mounted on big wheels, and they 
all seem to start from the large market down on the wharves 
at one side of the Praca da Marinhas. They have a destination 
which is announced on a little board which the conductor 
hangs on to the roof before starting. They also seem to 
have regular routes, but leave them at the request of any 
passenger. These carry the lowest classes, chiefly slaves and 
street vendors with their heavy packages or baskets. 

These street vendors are a great institution, and I suppose 
the street traffic grew up when women were so strictly con- 
fined to their houses, and now these peddlers are almost 
entirely depended upon for household supplies. It is quite 
the proper, thing to hang out of the window or lean over the 
edo-e of your balcony all the afternoon to watch the passers-by. 
We took to it most kindly, and as strangers took a certain 
amount of latitude and spent nearly all day on our balconies, 
enjoying the soft, warm air, the view of Corcovado mountain 
and life in the streets. 

When merchandise is carried in baskets they are hung by 
ropes to either end of a pole, and the pole balanced on one 
shoulder. Meat is carried either in these or on a shallow tray, 
fish in baskets, and vegetables the same. The different sized 



ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 43 

fish are put in different sized baskets, and these are piled on 
top of one another in two piles before being attached to the 
pole. The largest fish are in the top basket, and I often 
watched a vendor separate his baskets until he reached the 
bottom one, where the fish were scarcely more than minnows, 
to sell some to an old man who had a shop opposite to our 
hotel and bought fresh fish every morning for his two pet 
cats. It was great fun to watch him do his morning marketing. 
Such a fuss as he and the vendor would make over the 
purchase of a bunch of turnips, a few red peppers, or some tiny 
tomatoes. They would argue, quarrel, scream, and pull the 
contents of the baskets all about. He would run down every- 
thing the man had and the man praise everything, until finally 
a bargain would be struck and the monej^, which seldom 
amounted to more than a few cents, handed over. He spent 
quite as much on his cats as on himself. Chickens are carried 
in covered baskets, and so are pigeons, while turkeys are driven 
in droves by one or two boys, armed with light bamboo sticks. 
Each peddler has his own peculiar cry, so that one could 
tell what was being carried past without going to the window. 
There is the tin man, who strikes an iron spoon against a 
small tin basin as he walks, and the soap man, who raps the 
side of a box that he carries on his head with a stick and calls 
out, " Soap ! Soap ! " The dry-goods men have their wares 
in small tin trunks that are painted bright colors. 



44 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 

Sometimes they carry three and even four of them on their 
backs, bending almost double beneath the weight. If well to 
do they have a slave to carry their trunks — or at least used to 
— and walk ahead of him, calling attention by slapping a 
jointed yard-stick together at every step. Cobblers go about 
and collect shoes that need mending, stringing them all on 
a piece of twine, and, after a few days, they bring them back in 
good order. 

Negroes pass along with trays balanced on their heads 
which are filled with candy done up in tissue paper of differ- 
ent colors. This candy is made in private houses — often by 
the ladies — and the negroes must bring back a certain amount 
of money for each piece sold. Whatever they make over that 
they are allowed to retain. It is generally in the form of yel- 
low transparent balls that have no especial flavor and are 
warranted to last a long while, as biting them is impossible. 
These balls are all the candy one can get in the city except 
stale imported French candied fruits. 

Instead of milk wagons cows are driven about the streets, 
each cow having a muzzled calf tied to her tail and a bell tied 
to her neck. This latter announces her approach and brings 
the servants to the doors and gates with bowls or pitchers, 
and one little French baby, that lived near us, always came 
out to see his cow and say good-morning to her. Slippers 
which are far too narrow and about half the lenarth of the foot 



ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 45 

take the place of shoes with the lower and middle classes. 
There is no heel piece, and consequently at every step the 
heel of the slipper taps the sidewalk, and this noise, while slight, 
is so continuous that the ear marks it and it soon becomes 
one of the familiar sounds that one grows accustomed to. 

As a startling diversion, at times, there comes an unearthly 
yell from the policeman on guard outside the station. At 
first we took it for the announcement of a discovered murder, 
but it proved to be a simple request to be relieved — a vocal 
statement that his time was up and he was tired of trudging 
up and down with a heavy gun and bayonet. A few moments 
after the war-whoop sounded another policeman would saunter 
out, take a musket from the rack near the door and take the 
place of number one. A different scream turned the guard 
out when any cabinet officer passed. The cabinet officers 
were always to be told by two mounted orderlies that fol- 
lowed the carriage of each one. 

Mules are quite as much used as horses ; they look quite 
nice and seem to have fully as much spirit, if one may judge 
by the number of runaways. 

If one wishes to call the attention of any one in the street or 
a waiter in a restaurant one makes a long, low, hissing noise, 
which seems to attract attention much more quickly than 
our halloo. 

We would hardly think of going to a tinsmith at home for 



46 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 

a trunk, but that is what one must do here, and they give you 
a very gorgeous article for your money. As a rule the tin is 
left unpainted inside and all the artist's attention given to 
the outside. The favorite shades for the body color are rose 
pink and pale blue ; a bunch of flowers or a landscape covers 
half the lid and each of the four sides is similarly decorated. 
It makes conspicuous luggage, to say the least, and as the 
trunks are small, a family requires a great number and the 
sight of a family going to the railroad station, their bodies 
piled inside and the trunks outside, is quite astonishing. 

Immense loads are carried on their heads by the porters. 
Six men will pick up a piano, set it on their heads and jog off 
with it, keeping perfect step and carrying their necks erect 
under what looks like a crushing burden. Chairs — piles of 
them — marble-top tables, wardrobes, all sorts of heavy things 
are set on their heads and generally there are only two men 
to a load. It makes one's neck ache to watch them. 

It is always warm weather, so the poor dress in thin cotton 
clothes and they seem to enjoy life and be a jolly set, but I 
suppose it is because only the fittest survive, as I am told that 
the death rate among infants is from 70 to 80 per cent., but 
that once one reaches thirty years of age one is generally 
certain of long life. There are many fine public buildings, 
especially the custom-house and post-office on the First of 
March Street. 



ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 47 

The houses are pretty because they always have a garden 
filled with blooming plants and palms, and anything would 
look pretty in such a setting, otherwise I did not admire 
them. The rooms are good sized, and furniture made from 
the fine natural woods is much used and very handsome. 



48 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAB. 



VII. 

RIO DE JANEIRO. 

THE HOTELS OF TIJUCA — FINE SUBURBAN SCENERY — THE 
NEW PALACE — AN INTERESTING MUSEUM — CURIOUS MAR- 
RIAGE CUSTOMS THE STATUS OF MARRIED WOMEN. 

Ouvldor is the name of the brilliantly lined alley, which 
is called a street, and is the fashionable shopping place in 
Rio. It is so narrow that carts are only allowed along it 
very early in the morning, and during the remainder of the 
day people walk about in the street or on the sidewalk at 
will. There are many gas-pipe arches across it at intervals, 
so that it may be well illuminated, and it is well paved. 
The shops are the finest in the city, mostly kept by French 
people, and full of articles from Paris. Two corner stores 
make a fine display of diamonds, and here one has the 
privilege of buying native stones for a little more than they 
cost in New York. One store is filled with curiosities and 
native work, baskets from Minas, carved gourds, feather work 



ALONG SROBE WITH A MAN-OF-WAIL 49 

from the Amazons, humming birds, all kinds of beetles — in 
short, a great variety of articles. A great many shops have 
beautiful photographs of the wonderful scenery in and about 
the city, but they, like everything else in the stores, are 
excessive in price, so one does not buy much even after 
becoming accustomed to the money. 

At first to see an ordinary article marked 10,000 reis 
staggers one until it is translated into $5 ! They speak only 
of reis, and it takes twenty of them to make one of our cents, 
besides the exchange in our favor, which makes them a little 
less. There is quite a large plaza at one end of the Ouvidor, 
named San Francisco, with a fine, large church facing on it 
that we never could find open. In the center of the garden 
is a statue which, I was told, was erected to honor the Thomas 
Jefferson of Brazil. It has gas-pipes leading all about the 
pedestal for purposes of illumination. Only a block away is 
another large plaza, with a fine colossal equestrian statue of 
Dom Pedro in the center. Around the base are four bronze 
groups representing the rivers of Brazil, composed of one or 
more of the Indians that inhabit the banks and fish for 
turtle that live in the waters. You will find a picture of it 
in Harpers Magazine for November, 1887, page 901. The 
writer evidently got his pictures, as well as his facts, some- 
what mixed. From the plaza — or largo in Portuguese — of 

San Francisco all the car lines for the northern part of the 

4 



50 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 

city start, and quite early one morning we started from 
there for Tijuca, which divides the honors with Petropolis as 
being the favorite resort in summer for the people of Rio, 
and is only a few miles distant in the mountains. 

Petropolis entertains the court in summer, but in winter 
there is nothing there and it is not easily accessible, whereas 
the nearness to the city and lovely scenery fills the hotels at 
Tijuca all the year round. The streets in the northern section 
are the narrowest in the city ; the private houses are not as 
good as a class, but there are many storehouses and factories, 
especially those for furniture. The first sign of the approach- 
ing country is the gradual enlarging of the gardens about the 
houses, and finally they merge into farms, with the half- 
ruined, neglected look that is so common in the tropics, 
where vegetation is so rank and rapid in growth that it is 
almost impossible to keep a trim garden or yard. There were 
a good many fine houses and some that were anything but fine, 
yet the vegetation veiled and hid defects until every one 
seemed inviting and beautiful. At the base of the foot-hills 
our two mules were changed for four, and our driver with an 
ordinary whip, for one with excellent lungs and a whip, the 
lash of which was longer than the car. 

Under their combined influence we spun along for a short 
time, and at the end of the route found a vehicle something 
between an omnibus and a diligence waiting. Every one 




GROUP OF PALMS, PARA, BRAZIL. 



ALONG SHOBE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 51 

clambered into it, horses were brought out from the stable, and 
with their aid Ave began to climb the beautiful mountain side. 
There were the same lovely forests about us as on Corcovado. 
The ferns, palms, vines, orchids and flowers ; the soft, warm, 
yet exhilarating air ; beautiful views of valley and sea, framed 
by the trees about us ; a good road which rang with the horses' 
footsteps ; here and there a country residence, an occasional 
stream leaping down toward a valley; everything the eye 
rested on was beautiful. We crossed the summit of a mountain, 
and driving down a little way, came to Whyte's Hotel, which 
is a collection of large adobe buildings set on a terrace close 
in among the mountain peaks, with a ravine in front through 
which rushes a pretty stream, its noise filling the still, clear air 
all night and day. The ravine is spanned by several bridges, 
one of them leading to a path bordered by sweet violets, which 
ends at the broad piazza in front of the original hotel. This 
piazza is so wide that it is furnished, and forms the favorite 
lounging place of guests. The balconies out of our rooms 
overhung the brook, and we sat there for some time enjoying 
the scene, until it was cool enough to walk ; then we went a 
long way clown one of the roads, passing through a tiny village, 
and being invited into his orange grove by a man who allowed 
us to pick all the fruit and flowers we wanted. The views 
were beautiful and extensive, while we filled our hands with 
delicate ferns and wild flowers. 



52 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 

Returning to the hotel, we climbed one of the peaks back of 
it, and leaving the narrow path, went quite a distance into the 
forest, enjoying the views and growths so much that we only 
waited for the moon to rise, after dinner, before we were off 
again. In the new light everything looked different and still 
more beautiful, if that were possible. I wish I could describe 
it to you, but one who has never spent a moonlight night in the 
tropics could form no idea of it from any words at my command, 
it is all so entirely different from our scenery at home — not one 
familiar object. And here, near Rio, the very stars are different 
from those that watch over us at home ; here we have lost the 
" dipper " that points to the north star, and in its place two 
brilliant points of gold lead your eyes to the bright, one-sided 
Southern Cross. 

Early next morning we were obliged to return to the city, but 
had a lovely ride through the forest in the fresh morning air, 
and noticed, as we neared the city, the new palace, surrounded 
by extensive grounds, so a few days afterward we went out to 
see what the place was like. The palace itself is a large, square, 
two-storied building, not an imposing structure at all. There 
are large iron gates for official visitors, but they are only used 
on such occasions as the family generally use one of the small 
side doors. The building is light yellow in color, and so is the 
small guardhouse for the company of soldiers which stands a 
short distance away at the head of the broad avenue which leads 



ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 53 

up from the entrance gate. Between this guard-house and the 
palace is a large circular graveled space. The house and grounds 
were bequeathed to the Emperor by a rich Portuguese, and the 
grounds could be made lovely if enough money was spent on 
them. 

Here and there are a grassy slope, an avenue of trees or bam- 
boo, and a grotto with a small lake ; but there are also so many 
rough, weedy, uncultivated spots that there is no effect : each 
view is spoiled. Quite a nice beginning for a zoological garden 
is in one place, half hidden by trees, the monkeys and leopards 
being especially fine. The interior of the palace we never saw, 
as ordinary visitors are not admitted when the family are there, 
and we were obliged to leave the city two days before the one 
set for our presentation on the diplomatic reception night. 
Santa Anna Park pleased me more than any of the others, per- 
haps because it is more like Central Park glorified. The 
stretches of greensward, lakes, fountains, bridges, clumps of 
trees and blooming shrubs, peacocks strutting about, pretty 
ducks in the lakes, and comfortable benches in the shade, all 
made a lovely spot to walk about and lounge in. 

The city museum faces the park ; it is a large building, 
with most interesting collections in it. There were great 
numbers of well-mounted stuffed birds, quite a good showing 
of monkeys, a fair lot of fish, and some very curious min- 
erals, while the collection of Indian articles, which filled 



54 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 

two large rooms, was unusually fine and interesting. There 
were various curious arrows with wooden, stone, and iron 
heads, but the shaft generally of bamboo ; tall, slender bows, 
canoes, shields, models of huts, and much gorgeous feather 
work, a mantle and many head-dresses, whose long ends 
must have reached to the heels of the savage chieftains. 
The wands, which were said to be those of office, were long 
and slender, covered entirely with feathers, generally of a 
brilliant red. 

There were numbers of dried human heads, which are the 
scalp-locks of many tribes of South American savages ; they 
cut the head off their late enemy and take all„the bones out 
through the neck, then they dry and tan it over a small 
mould, filling the nostrils so that they stand out, and clos- 
ing the eyelids ; they are perfectly black and seem to be- 
come like leather, the long hair is left on and fancy knotted 
strings put through the lips. There is one of these heads 
in the Gibb's collection of Peruvian articles in the Metro- 
politan Museum in Central Park. There were curious burial 
pots of red earthenware from the Island of Marajo, rudely 
shaped — an attempt at the human form— about two and a 
half feet high. The bones are packed in them in a sort of 
cement or clay, and to get them in such a small place they 
must remove every bit of the flesh. 

One good-sized case was filled with articles seized quite 



ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 55 

recently by the police of Rio, in two or three raids which 
were made among the negroes to break up idolatry, and 
they were found using these articles in their form of wor- 
ship. They were mostly cloths, knives, and beads, as the 
idol would generally disappear, some one secreting it quickly, 
but there were two figures, rudely carved out of wood, and 
both about two feet high. One had a bowl on his head and 
looked quite peaceful, while the other had his right hand 
raised, and a knife in it as if about to strike. 

Near our hotel was one of the numerous pretty parks, facing 
which was a large, fine church, surrounded by a garden and 
approached by a fine flight of steps. On the pediment was a 
large bas-relief of a scene in Heaven. God, seated on a throne, 
•is leaning forward to place a crown of roses on the head of the 
Virgin Mary, who kneels in front of him, while angels and saints 
stand about in groups. The interior decorations are simple, 
but fairly good, and arranged so as not to interfere with the fine 
proportions of the interior. It is a favorite church for weddings, 
and very numerous are the wreaths and bouquets of artificial 
orange-blossoms that adorn the different altars, placed there as 
offerings by brides. 

A number of carriages, lined with white, and drawn by white 
horses, passing the hotel, meant a bridal party, and if we went at 
once to the church were in time to see the ceremony. Once or 
twice sufficed, however, as there are no bridesmaids, nor any 



56 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 

pretty procession and group about the altar. The bride wears 
white ; the rest of the female members of the family and friends 
leave their bonnets at home and wear their Sunday gowns. The 
groom and other men wear evening dress, and the whole party 
cluster pell-mell about the altar and watch the knot tied. The 
bride is supposed to be supported by a married friend whom she 
asks to take charge of her, but everybody takes charge of 
everybody, and the finale is a grand kissing-time. All the men 
kiss the groom, the women the bride, and then they kiss indis- 
criminately. They marry very young, the brides averaging 
from twelve to sixteen, and a woman of twenty is quite an 
old maid. They have large families, and the women pass their 
lives in their houses and gardens. 

It is only a few years since they began to go out upon the 
street without the attendance of husband, father, or brother, 
and even yet the very best families keep their women much 
secluded. If a gentleman calls on a lady, she will not receive 
him unless her husband is at home, and some ten years ago 
every man, when he left his house, locked the gate and took the 
key with him, and his family was thus confined to the house and 
garden until his return ; and some years before that, if he went 
into the country for a trip, he took his wife to a large convent 
near the public gardens, gave her to the nuns to keep, taking a 
receipt for her, and when he came back he gave up his receipt 
and got his wife. 



ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 57 

Things are gradually changing for the better, as far as the 
treatment of women is concerned ; they begin to marry a little 
older, and thus have a chance to get a little education of all 
kinds, and are better fitted to be companions to their husbands. 
They are also allowed more liberty, and consequently behave 
better ; their freedom is coming slowly, but surely. They seem 
intelligent, and more than willing to learn the few accomplish- 
ments they are taught. They have good figures, and a good 
many handsome faces look at you from the balconies and gardens. 
The men are short in stature and dark — a great deal too dark 
sometimes, as there seems no objection to negro blood among the 
Brazilians. One of the cabinet, I was told, was two-thirds 
negro. The dislike to such blood seems stronger in the States 
than anywhere else. 

There was said to be an epidemic of small-pox, and every day 
the papers contained quite a list of deaths from it, while any 
number of funerals passed the hotel, but they were almost 
entirely children who had never been vaccinated, or persons who 
had exposed themselves in the slums. We never saw a person 
who had recently had it. In short, people were more scared 
than hurt. The funerals were varied, from the tiny baby in the 
scarlet coffin, unattended, to the large purple velvet gold-trimmed 
box, buried in flowers, and followed by a long file of carriages 
headed by a coach that belonged to the imperial family, and 
sent as an empty compliment to the cast-off body of the 



58 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 

Emperor's faithful follower. The coffins are long, narrow, 
shallow boxes of wood, over which are nailed red cloth for chil- 
dren and purple for other people. The cover is a wedge-shaped 
frame, over which cloth is stretched and nailed, making a flimsy, 
queer-shaped coffin. In cases of extra display all the edges are 
bordered with gold lace. 

The idea of a funeral wreath seems to be to have it as large 
as possible, with long streaming bows of ribbon tied to it. 
They are often made of artificial bead or feather flowers in spite 
of the abundance of natural beauties. The hearses are gor- 
geous, especially those for children, which are painted scarlet, 
while those for grown people are black and shiny, with tufts of 
black plumes on the roofs and on the horses' heads. Only men 
follow the body, in carriages, except in the case of young chil- 
dren, when their playmates seem to go too, and carry bunches of 
fresh flowers. There were too many deaths from contagious 
diseases to make a visit to the cemeteries other than foolhardy, 
so I never saw an interment. 



VIII. 

THE RIO DE LA PLATA.— MONTEVIDEO. 

THE STREETS AND HOUSES OF THE METROPOLIS — A CITY OF 
PRETTY GIRLS — CURIOUS DOMESTIC AND SOCIAL USAGES — 
HOW THE COOKING AND LAUNDRY WORK ARE DONE. 

With deep regret we said farewell to lovely Rio, and stand- 
ing on the deck of the steamer, southward hound, our little 
group watched, in the silence of sorrow, its beauties one by one 
fade from our view— the city, harbor, mountains — all vanished, 
and when we finally turned about to go below the coast only 
showed as a low-lying cloud on the horizon. Yet we had the 
comforting assurance that we should once again visit this 
Garden of Eden, for, in this part of the world, if all roads do 
not lead to Rome, all steamship lines do go to Rio, and on our 
way home we were sure to stop there. 

The next day we wished ourselves back more vehemently 
than ever, for heavy black clouds came rolling up from the 
southwest, with every now and then a brilliant flash of light- 
ning darting through them, and by contrast intensifying their 



60 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 

blackness. On they swept, and we soon were dancing, tum- 
bling, and rolling about in the midst of a pampero ; the rain 
passed quickly, and then the wind blew a gale for three days, 
and we were well inside the mouth of the Rio de la Plata before 
we found weather and water to suit every one. 

The Rio de la Plata always seemed to me more of an estuary 
than a river. Its water is muddy, and there is a strong, steady 
current, but there is such a vast expanse of water that one does 
not notice the current, and when one can navigate a river for 
forty-eight hours without seeing land on either side, or in fact 
anywhere on the horizon, one needs to be a navigator to know 
where he is, or else to have a believing spirit to accept what is 
stated as a fact. 

The first glimpse we had of land was of the Lobos Islands, 
two low, rocky islets surrounded by dangerous reefs, and getting 
their name of Lobos — -seal — from the fact that they are a great 
resort in winter for seals that come up from the south and breed 
there in quantities. A certain number are taken every year, and 
there are buildings on the larger island for curing skins and try- 
ing out oil, and a corral of stout logs into which the animals 
are driven to be killed with clubs. The killing season is from 
May 15 to October 15, and the average take is 14,000, for which 
the government receives $10,000, and the port of Malclonado a 
certain amount of skins and oil to the general value of about 
$3,000. 



ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 61 

On account of the seals no lighthouse is allowed on the islands, 
and many ships are wrecked on their reefs, but the government 
of Uruguay prefers its income to saving the merchant marine of 
other nations from disaster. 

Uruguay — or, as it is officially called, Republica Oriental del 
Uruguay, from its being on the oriental bank of the river — is a 
small but wonderfully fertile and rich country, which only 
needs more people, law, and order to flow with milk and honey. 

In the northern and eastern parts there are mountains, and 
the rest is what looked to us, with our memories of Brazilian 
mountains, a dead, monotonous level, but in reality it is a rich, 
rolling plain, covered with fine succulent grasses, on which the 
herds of cattle thrive and fatten. One never gets to the mount- 
ainous regions, because there is no grand river highway to lead 
people and commerce to them, and they are comparatively unde- 
veloped. Only a few adventurous spirits or miners take the long 
stage coach and horseback rides, and the reports they bring back 
are not such as to tempt one, yet they report the country as beauti- 
ful and the mines rich. In short, the little republic can boast of a 
well-watered land, rich soil, good climate, and fine landscapes ; in 
fact, it is a land where every prospect pleases and only man is — 
well, he is not exactly vile, but certainly not pleasant to live 
with, for his ways are not ours. A republic in name and with- 
out some of the bad features of a monarchy, but personal politics, 
arms at the polls, good laws badly enforced, revolutions, and a 



62 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 

state church, all combined, make anything but an ideal republic. 
Of course I am now speaking of the people as a nation, for in- 
dividually the gente decente, or better class, are delightful. 
Their country is still young and they had a bad start. Fancy 
what our country would have been if only the poorer class of 
Spaniards had settled here and intermarried with the Indians, 
and we had only these people to form our republic ! — -what a 
fine mess we should have made of it ! — instead of which we had 
English, Dutch, French, and Spanish blood and all sorts of 
creeds, each one holding the other in check and forming a com- 
mon front against the Indians, and then when we had formed 
the nucleus of a nation and accomplished our independence, in 
our hour of need we had patriots and statesmen to start us on the 
right road, and we have grown until our nation is the guiding 
star of all republics and a menace to all monarchies. 

On the morning of our sixth day out from Rio we arrived at 
Montevideo, and what a peculiar picture it was that greeted us 
as we came on deck to see the city. Everything was gray : the 
sky covered with heavy gray clouds, the city of gray adobe, the 
water breaking against the shore, the surrounding country, all 
gray, and looking so cold and dreary. The chill wind of early 
spring whistled through the rigging, and we got ashore as soon as 
possible to look for something cheering, as this was to be our 
headquarters for several years. 

The city is built on a long, low point of land shaped 



ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 63 

something like a whale's back, having the river on one side 
and the bay on the other. The bay is semicircular and shallow, 
large vessels having to lie a great distance from the wharves, 
and, as the water is liable at any time to be blown into foaming 
billows by strong winds, for about nine months of the year 
landing and shipping cargo is uncertain and risky, and it was 
no uncommon thing for naval officers to be detained several 
days on shore who had only intended stopping for a dinner 
or a dance, so a man living in his evening togs at the hotel 
was no unusual sight. 

On the point of the bay opposite the city is the mount from 
which the city gets its name of Montevideo, or Mount Isee. 
It is a bare, grass-grown hill, with an old fort and lighthouse 
on its summit, while at its feet cluster the houses and sal- 
aderos of the suburb known as Cerro. The wharves are good, 
and lead directly up to the narrow streets of the old part of 
the city, which is built on the point. As I said before, the 
wind was cold, so every one stepped along briskly and there 
was color in their cheeks, quite cheering to look at after the 
pale faces of Rio ; and oh ! how pretty the Montevideo girls 
are ! especially when about fifteen or sixteen ; such plump 
little pigeons, with large dark eyes, sweet smiles, and perfectly- 
fitting gowns — a little too fond, perhaps, of covering their 
pretty skins with cosmetics, but Yery pretty, sweet, and 
attractive, all the same. 



64 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 

The streets are paved with gray stones, the narrow sidewalks 
covered with gray flagging, the houses built with thick, 
heavy walls made of rough kiln-burnt brick and covered with 
gray adobe both outside and in. The inner walls are generally 
frescoed with some arabesque design in colors that are put on 
with the aid of stencil-plates. The majority of the edifices are 
one story in height, although many of the modern ones boast 
of two and even three. 

The Italian workmen model and carve the stucco until some 
of the fronts look like masses of beautiful stone carving, while 
only the poorest are quite without ornament of this kind. 
Often the foundation, or all the basement, is faced with slabs 
of marble, while the steps, door and window frames are of the 
same material. The windows have heavy gratings over them, 
and generally a Venetian blind between the grating and sash. 

The doors are heavy and solid, and the big bolts to secure 
them, like those on the windows, are heavy and clumsily made. 
The door, which is generally the only entrance and exit, is 
ordinarily put on one side of the street front of the house, 
and leads into a hall. The rest of the street front is taken up 
by a big room, which is used for the parlor. The hall is as 
long as this room is deep, and terminates in a patio or open 
court, which may or may not have a glass roof — usually not. 
In this front patio is the aljibe — cistern — which receives its 
water from the flat roof. It is made as ornamental as possible, 



ALONG SHOBE WITH A MAN-OF-WAB. 65 

with pretty blue and white tiles around and an arch of fancy 
iron work over it. In the center of the arch hangs a chain, to 
which is attached a bucket. The floor of the patio is of marble 
or brick, and many pots of flowers and plants cluster about 
the walls. From here doors lead into the different rooms, 
and these doors are partly of glass, as through them comes 
all the light and air that the rooms get, there being no windows. 
Behind this front patio there is another, connected by a 
passageway ; out of this open more rooms and the kitchen, 
which is a small, dark place like a closet. At one end is a 
tiled shelf, in which are sunk two or more small, grated iron 
baskets. These are from four to six inches square, and in 
them the fire for cooking is made, wood and charcoal alone 
being used. 

It is a study to one used to our stoves and ranges to see how 
many courses a cook will prepare over those tiny fires. I have 
watched them with admiration. Bread and cake are bought of 
the baker, but occasionally, in the country, one sees low round 
ovens built in the yard, and in these a fire is made, the ashes 
raked out, and the bread baked, as our grandmothers had it 
done. 

Laundry work is not done in the house, so the clothes are 
given to an ironing woman, who sub-lets the washing part to a 
washwoman, this latter taking them down to the river bank. 
Here she kneels down, splashes them in the river, soaps, 



66 ALONG SHOEi: WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 

splashes again, and then laying them in a wooden tray, or on a 
stone, she beats them with a wooden mallet, wielding it with 
all her strength, the consequence being holes everywhere, and 
no color left in anything that originally boasted it. Then the 
articles are spread flat on the shore or hung on lines close by, 
after which they are taken back to the ironing-woman, who 
eventually returns the remains to you. 

The rooms of the family often have fine furniture and 
beautiful ornaments, but carpets outside the parlor are rare, 
while a fire-place or stove anywhere in the house is considered 
an abomination by the natives, who declare that a fire is 
unhealthy. In fact, their houses are built and their lives 
ordered stricly with a view to keeping cool, which, as they 
have five months of winter, during which they go about blue 
with cold, and give you icy hands to press, seems to the 
stranger like a serious mistake. When making calls, at this 
season, one will find whole families receiving all clad in heavy 
o-arments, the women with their hands in muffs and their 
pretty little slippers on foot-warmers, while the gentlemen 
luxuriate in overcoats. 



IX. 

SCENES IN MONTEVIDEO 

STREETS, SQUARES, AND PLAZZAS OF THE URUGUAYAN CAPITAL 

INSIDE THE HALLS OF CONGRESS REMINISCENCE OF 

PRESIDENT SANTOS — HIS EXILE AND DEATH THE GREAT 

FESTIVAL OF CORPUS CHRISTI — OPEN SALE OF LOTTERY 
TICKETS THE VARIOUS CLUB-HOUSES. 

" Twenty-fifth of May " is the principal shopping street 
in Montevideo. It gets its name from the date of independ- 
ence from Spain, and is narrow and rather gloomy during the 
day, but at night gas-jets and electric lights make it brilliant. 
The shops are all small, and most of the names over them are 
French or German, yet the clerks in the retail stores are 
Spanish and really understand nothing else. There are, of 
course, shops on other streets, as " Sarandi " and the " Eigh- 
teenth of July," but" Twenty-fifth of May" is the Broadway. 
The display of jewelry and precious stones, especially diamonds, 
is something wonderful. They are tastefully set and well dis- 



G8 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 

played on velvet cushions. So many of these shops are there 
that they seem to light up the whole street. Next in number 
come the exchange shops and places for the sale of lottery 
tickets. The lottery is a government institution, and the pro- 
ceeds are used for the support of the big charity hospital on the 
Twenty-fifth of May Street. It built the hospital originally, 
and has also paid for the insane asylum, besides other smaller 
buildings for charitable purposes, such as lying-in hospitals. 
Men and boys are the chief vendors, and } r ou are assailed by 
them at every corner, but especially on the plazas. There are 
three different lists of prizes, headed b}^ a grand prize which is 
either $50,000, $25,000, or $12,500. If it is the first mentioned, 
a whole ticket costs $10, if the second, $5, and if the last named, 
a ticket is $2.50. The tickets are divided into fifths ; on the 
face of each fifth is a list of the prizes offered, a description of 
the ticket to let you know what color it ought to be, and on the 
back the date of drawing. The vendors get 6 per cent., and 
they always have in their pockets an official printed copy of the 
numbers of the last drawing, and you constantly see people stop- 
ping them and taking tickets out of the pockets to compare with 
the list, and see what they have drawn. Every one buys, from 
the street vendors of fruits and cakes, porters, and laborers up. 
Drawings are frequent, and prizes are always promptly paid in 
silver coin. 

There are several plazas, or public squares, the principal ones 



ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 69 

being Constitucion, Independencia, Caganclia, and Rincon. 
They are all curbed and have a flagged sidewalk around them, 
and there are a few trees, but beyond the trees not a blade of 
grass or anything green is to be seen, the whole space being 
covered with gravel. Stone-paved paths intersect each square, 
and along their sides are benches, usually occupied by gossiping 
groups of lottery-ticket vendors. I am told that there were 
formerly grass, flowers, and shrubs in the parks, but Santos, the 
last despot who occupied the presidential chair, wanted more 
money, so he had a bill passed to remove all grass, etc., from 
the public squares and sold the privilege of doing the work. 
He had many curious ways of managing things, but must have 
had some talents to work his way up from a stable boy to the 
Presidency. He undoubtedly had his assassins for private work 
and on a few occasions, when afraid to trust them — reputable 
men assured me — did the work himself. Every vacant lot in 
the city is inclosed by a high brick wall. He and his brother 
bought all the bricks in the city, also those at the kilns, and 
then ordered all vacant lots walled in with brick within a 
certain time. He was finally wounded in the face by a soldier, 
who tried to kill him, and went to Europe to have the wound 
treated. No sooner had he sailed than Tajes, his minister of 
war, proceeded, with a regiment on which he could rely, to the 
barracks, where the favorite regiment of Santos was quartered, 
disarmed them, and then proclaimed himself President. Next 



70 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 

a law of expatriation was passed, and Santos never again 
returned to Uruguay. He spent his last days in Buenos 
Ayres, and every now and then we would be startled by a report 
that lie had landed at night in some part of Uruguay or even 
in the city, and as that meant a revolution and fighting, it was 
wiser to keep out of the streets until the rumor proved false. 
He died in Buenos Ayres, and then the government offered his 
widow a man-of-war to bring his hodj home in state, but she 
refused, and brought him quietly over in a regular passenger 
steamer, and without parade of any kind he was laid to rest 
among his people. He left a widow, several children, and a 
large fortune. Alive, he was dreaded worse than the plague ; 
dead, he is forgotten. 

Constitucion is often called Matriz, because the Cathedral of 
La Matriz — The Mother — is built on one side of it. The 
church is very large, even for a cathedral, and from the outside 
its two towers and dome look very fine. The interior is bare 
and unusually destitute of ornament, the only costly one being 
the marble tomb of a bishop, with a colossal figure of the ec- 
clesiastic in his robes kneeling on top. The ornaments on the 
altars are poor, but in good taste, as are the saints' statues and 
painted altar pieces ; an air of poverty seems to pervade the 
place. Across the plaza is the large municipal building, 
neither very imposing nor pleasing except during carnival, or 
on some especial gala occasion, when it is beautifully decorated 



ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 71 

by day and illuminated by night. It seemed spacious and 
comfortable inside, the entrance being through big doors into a 
square hall, off which doors on the left lead into the central po- 
lice court, and those on the right into the barracks of the 
guard, for soldiers are on duty there all the while. Two of 
them with fixed bayonets stand at the foot of a broad marble 
staircase, which leads from the rear of the square entrance hall 
to the floor above. Just behind the sentinels are two strong 
iron gates that could be quickly swung to and barred if the 
legislators above needed protection. 

Ascending the staircase we enter a narrow hall which runs 
around the square inner patio, and from which doors give en- 
trance to the different rooms. One is occupied by the senate, 
and any one may attend its sittings who chooses to do so, but 
not too many must come at one time, as only four hard wooden 
benches across one end of the long, narrow room are provided 
for the public. These are elevated, and are reached by a few 
steps. A heavy wooden railing separates them from the rest of 
the rooms, and to this railing several small leaves hang ; these, 
when propped up, can be used by reporters, standing in front of 
them, to write on. At the opposite end of the room is a large 
desk with a big arm-chair behind it, and in the chair sits the 
vice-president of the republic, as presiding officer. He was an 
old man with pure white hair, gray beard, and a fine intellect- 
ual face. He looked very small in the very big chair. A David 



72 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 

Davis would have fitted it better. On the wall just behind him 
hung an oil portrait of Gen. Artigas in full uniform, and on one 
of the side walls was a similar portrait of Suarez. They were 
both patriots and mighty men in their day in Uruguay. No 
desks are furnished, and if a senator wishes to read his speech 
he brings it in his hand and holds it until he goes out, or puts 
it in his pocket. I never saw more than a dozen of the nineteen 
senators in their seats ; they attend strictly to their business, 
speak sitting in their chairs, and give their assent to any 
proposition by bending forward from their waists. Four clerks 
write at four desks, and, save the scratching of their pens, the 
room is very still ; yet as the senators speak only for one an- 
other's benefit, and the few there are of them being at the fur- 
ther end of the room, it is exceedingly difficult to understand 
anything. 

The House of Representatives meet in a similar room in an- 
other side of the building, and it is arranged much in the same 
manner, except that here there are a few more benches for the 
public. There are fifty-four chairs and always a goodly number 
of members present. They speak louder and seem generally 
more democratic and noisy. 

On the Sarandi side of the plaza is the magnificent new three- 
storied marble-faced building of the Uruguayan Club, the effect 
of which is, however, spoiled for me by giving up the ground 
floor to shops. Opposite is the unpretentious brown building 



ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN- OF -WAR. 73 

which is the headquarters of Englishmen and foreigners gen- 
erally, and is known as the English Club. Shops occupy the 
rest of the square, and over most of them are private residences, 
it being not at all out of the way here to live over a shop, even 
the president sometimes doing so. 

To seo the plaza at its gayest one must go in the even- 
ings, especially on warm summer ones, when a military band 
plays and numerous pretty senoritas of the city and of Bue- 
nos Ayres are sitting demurely at the tables, with papa and 
mamma, pretending to eat ices or drink beer, while the young 
men wander about speaking to those they know. On Corpus 
Christi day it is crowded, packed with people who assemble 
to see the great religious procession of the year, when all 
the priests and societies of the city meet together in the 
cathedral, and issuing from it march in solemn procession 
around the square, singing, carrying lighted candles, and 
showing to the multitude the great treasure of the country, 
which is a small piece of the true cross. I saw the pro- 
cession one year and it was a beautiful sight. The peo- 
ple in the surrounding houses brought out silk hangings 
and embroidered cloths and hung them on the front of 
their houses. Every balcony was filled with people, and all in 
and about the plaza the people were packed so close that it 
seemed a sea of heads as one looked down on them — a sea 
that swayed and surged as each one strove to better his 



74 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 

position. The curbstones on each side of the street were 
lined with soldiers in full uniform, and there was a military- 
band at each corner. There was some delay, but finally the 
procession issued from the church, and it was so long that it 
reached nearly around the square. First came the boys 
destined for the priesthood, then those who were training for 
missionaries ; next a veiled host on the top of a long pole, 
the veil stiff with embroidery, borne by a priest. It was fol- 
lowed by a long line of them ; next the big white satin gold- 
embroidered banner of the bishop ; behind that a banner of 
cloth of gold, with a small glass case hanging in the center 
of it. In this case Was the piece of the true cross, and at 
its approach the soldiers and the people all knelt. Next 
came a veiled host, then a pennant, which was so heavily 
embroidered with gold that it stood out straight and stiff. 
Just behind was a double row of Jesuit priests in robes — 
as well as others — their candles being in lanterns. Priests 
of the cathedral, dressed in the robes of the mass, followed, 
then priests walking backward and burning incense before 
the bishop, who walked beneath a yellow brocade canopy, 
dressed in gorgeous robes and surrounded by attendants. 
After he passed, all those who were kneeling arose and 
watched the priests of different parishes, headed by veiled 
hosts, file by. The procession closed with numerous socie- 
ties, all dressed in ordinary dress and distinguished by the 



ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 75 

ribbons around their shoulders. When all had paced slowly 
around the square they entered the cathedral and a long 
service followed, but as soon as they had disappeared' behind 
the doors the band struck up a march, the soldiers fell into 
line and marched off to their barracks, while a few people 
went in to attend the service and the majority went home. 

It was a lovely spectacle, there was so much gold, so many 
brilliant priests' robes, the bands playing, soldiers' uniforms 
glittering, the procession chanting, the bells all over the city 
ringing merrily, the kneeling crowd — it all looked very pretty 
in the bright sunshine, and to Roman Catholics, who under- 
stood the meaning of all the details, it must have been espe- 
cially attractive. 

Independencia Plaza is only two blocks away, and is the 
largest in the city. It is intended to have a colonnade all 
around it, but the work progresses slowly, and only the two 
ends and part of the sides are so decorated. It is sur- 
rounded by shops and houses, except a large public building 
called the Government House, which is filled with different 
offices, among them those of the president ; and any day about 
four the latter could be seen to come out and enter his hand- 
some coupe, which took him to his own house <n the "Eigh- 
teenth of July Street." The 18th of July is the anniver- 
sary of the adoption of the constitution, and the street is a 
line wide one, being in the new part of the city. It is 



7G ALONG SHOBE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 

planted with a row of trees on each side, and is very long, 
extending way out into the country. Plaza Cagancha is 
made by widening the Eighteenth of July Street for two 
squares, and contains the only statue in the city, and it 
is erected to Liberty. On the top of a tall Corinthian col- 
umn of marble is a female figure in bronze, wearing the 
Phrygian cap and draped in the costume of ancient Greece ; 
one hand holds the flag of Uruguay, and the other a pair 
of broken shackles. Rincon Plaza is in the old part of the 
town and is surrounded by small houses. It is often used 
as a drill ground for troops, and on summer evenings the 
benches are freely patronized by spoony couples, as it is not 
very brilliantly lighted. One of the streets which leads 
from it to the water is called Washington, named for our 
immortal George. 



X. 

OSTRICHES IN URUGUAY— VISIT TO SENOR SA- 
PELLO'S BIRD FARM NEAR PIEDRAS. 

AN" AFTERNOON AT THE QUIET VILLAGE OF SANTA LUCIA 
— A DECAYING TOWN THAT ONCE ENJOYED A BOOM- -ITS 
BIG HOTEL AND GRASS-GROWN STREETS. 

The Central Railroad of Uruguay passes through, many 
little towns near Montevideo, and sometimes we made excur- 
sions on it to see the hamlets and pass a day in the coun- 
try away from the heat of the city. Some one told us that 
Santa Lucia was an interesting place, so we made it the 
destination of our next outing. For two hours and a half 
the train slowly crossed the flat country, often stopping at 
pretty little stations, with towns more or less near them. 
When quite near to Santa Lucia we caught a glimpse of a 
rather broad stream, called a river, with a pretty good current 
and quite high bluff banks for this country. Arriving, we 
found a railroad station large and airy, with rooms for the 
station-master and his family at one end, as well as a gar- 
den for his flowers and chickens in the rear. There was 



78 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 

the usual crowd of men and women to watch the passengers 
alight, most of the women Indians, with a few oranges or 
lemons to sell. Most of the men were natives, dressed in 
riding costume, who had come in from their farms for pleasure 
or profit, and having tied their horses to the fence, were watch- 
ing the travelers while patronizing the bar. A cloud of hack- 
men surrounded us as we stood making up our minds what to 
do next. They were eager and clamorous, but we told them 
in English we did not want anything, and finally they left 
us in despair. I wish now that we had gone with one of 
them to see where he wo aid have taken us, and what castles 
in Spain he would have built out of his imagination with 
which to glorify the decaying little town. 

Once Santa Lucia had a boom as a summer resort, and the 
brothers Fernandez, who had made a pile of money in the Ori- 
ental Hotel in Montevideo, decided to build a summer hotel in 
Santa Lucia, so as to make a second fortune, instead of which 
they speedily became bankrupt ; and, seeing the hotel, one can- 
not wonder at their non-success. It is separated from the rail- 
road depot by a broad street and a large grove of eucalyptus 
trees, each of which had to be brought there and set out. The 
building occupies a block about 300 feet square. It is built 
one room deep and one story high clear round. Of these rooms 
about forty are guest-chambers, two dining-rooms and the rest 
given over to servants and rubbish. When I tell you that the 








AVENUE OF PALMS, BOTANICAL GARDEN, RIO DE JANEIRO. 



ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 79 

regular price for two people in a room during the season is — 
with, two meals a day — only $2 a head, you can easily see why 
this big building did not pay. The patio is a garden filled 
with vegetables and here and there some flowers ; between 
them and the building was a broad bricked terrace, with columns 
and a roof of iron trellis thickly covered with grape-vines. It 
made a lovely place to walk or lounge in, and after a good 
breakfast we talked to a group of young girls who had come 
there with their families to spend the summer. They put us 
through a catechism and we returned the compliment, but from 
their account there did not seem anything of especial interest in 
the town, so we sat there during the heat of the day, improved 
our Spanish by practice, and watched the women of all ages 
suck mate, while the young fry amused themselves with a dead 
mouse, burying, digging it up, and throwing it around, none 
of them apparently objecting at all to handling it. Finally we 
started out and walked clear through the town several times. 
It is said to have 3,000 inhabitants, and it may ; anyway its 
forlornness made it fascinating. The streets are wide, grass- 
grown, and silent, scarcely a creature stirring. Wild flowers 
grew along the roads, while here and there were clumps of 
elderberry bushes in full bloom. 

There are a goodly number of houses with pretty little gar- 
dens about them, and in some cases people were sitting on the 
piazzas or in the patios, but not all could boast of inhabitants ; 



80 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 

many were windowless, their roofs falling in or fallen, with 
weeds, tall and rank, pushing their way up through the brick 
pavements of the deserted rooms. We asked a shopkeeper for 
the reason ; like most foreigners of the Latin race, he first 
shrugged his shoulders, and then told us he only knew that the 
people who had money enough to go to Montevideo never came 
back, and only those without money were left, so his business 
did not flourish. The main plaza was a shady, quiet place with 
plenty of benches about under the trees and a band stand. A 
man who was busy putting a fresh coat of paint on the benches 
told us he was getting ready for the summer — one month of 
that delightful season had already flown — and that every other 
evening a band composed of some of the youths of the town 
used the stand and gave free concerts. 

The church faced the plaza, and we walked in at the open 
door. It was large and the air felt cool, vault-like, and pleas- 
ant after the burning sun. The altars already built were plain 
and poor, while a statue of St. Joseph standing on a dry-goods 
box had a small money box nailed up near it, with a printed 
request that you contribute something toward furnishing him a 
suitable altar that he might be properly worshipped. A few 
roughly-made confessionals stood near the base of the columns 
that supported the roof, and a pail of water with a sprinkler in 
it occupied one of them. A small boy had been at work with 
the sprinkler wetting the floor, but just then he was occupied by 



ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 81 

a game of marbles outside, and only returned when a priest put 
his head out of a door near the high altar and repeatedly called 
" Pedro ! " The priest retreated when he saw us, and the boy 
stood some time struggling with his inclination to follow us 
about rather than return to his work. Chairs were standing in 
the center aisle in great confusion, as if the congregation had 
but lately left, and in front of one of them lay a tiny pair of 
shoes and stockings, just where some impatient youngster had 
kicked them off. 

Walking to the river, which bears the same name as the town, 
we wandered for some time in a grove along its banks, picking 
wild flowers and admiring the pretty stream. Here and there 
were fishermen, and we hoped every minute to see a finny prize 
hauled out ; but as none came we finally engaged an elderly 
disciple of Izaak Walton, with balloon breeches, in conversa- 
tion. He was an enthusiastic sport, and the yarns he spun us 
about the size of the fish he had hauled out of that brook would 
have astonished me if I had not been used to fishermen's yarns 
at home. It was a lovely cool spot to stay in, so we encouraged 
him to talk, and imperil the future of his soul until a distant 
whistle warned us to make our bows, express our thanks and 
hurry to the station, where we found a train that whirled us 
back to Montevideo. 

Another day we started for the town of Piedras to visit an 

ostrich farm near there. There is a small ostrich— called bv the 

6 



82 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 

natives Nandu — which abound in the southern part of the 
continent of South America. They are as inferior to the 
African bird in feathers as in size, but have long been limited 
with the bolas, their skins making pretty rugs and the feathers 
the finest of dusters. When tracts of land were fenced in for 
the purpose of stocking with cattle a greater or less number of 
these birds were confined, and the owners of the estancias tried 
to improve the breed by importing some of the large African 
birds. They would not mate, however, and the estancieros 
had to content themselves with keeping an eye on the herds in 
the bad seasons and seeing that only a certain number were 
killed every year, for whose skins they get one dollar each, on 
an average. The farm near Piedras is of African birds entirely, 
and is owned by an Italian, Senor Sapello by name, who for- 
merly raised horses, and when he heard of the Zulu war, he 
filled a ship with his cattle and sailed with them for the Cape of 
Good Hope. He found a ready market with the English for 
his wares, and while visiting the town saw some young birds 
and visited a feather exchange, and, seeing large profits in the 
business, he bought a few pairs of chicks for -f 300 a pair, and 
returning to Uruguay started the farm, which pays him 
splendidly. From the station a ten minutes' drive brings one 
to his gate. This the driver opens, and thence the road leads 
to a second gate. This was locked, but in answer to a lusty 
pull at the bell a peon came, who smilingly led us through a 



ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 83 

grove of eucalyptus trees up to the large one-storied house, em- 
bowered in grapevines growing on iron trellises. Mr. Sapello 
and his two sons received us most kindly, answering all our 
questions with the greatest care, and seemed to feel quite repaid 
by the interest we took. There are now 150 pairs of grown 
birds all kept as near the house as possible for convenience in 
attending to their simple wants. All are natives of the place 
except the first few pairs, and several have been sold. Each 
pair have about an eighth of an acre to themselves, which is 
enclosed by a high wire fence, while inside there are several 
trees, grass, and a small wooden hut. They retire into the 
latter at night and a peon closes the door, thus securing them 
from prowling dogs. The trees are for shade, which seemed 
very grateful to them the hot day that we were there, as they 
not only stood in it but fanned their bodies with their wings, 
looking like ballet dancers with flumly-dressed bodies and bare 
legs. They stand from six to ten feet high, and when the 
feathers are plucked so one may see the size of the body, they 
appear all legs and neck. The legs are entirely destitute of 
feathers or hair and their owners brand them on the hip. The 
neck has short, gray, hair-like feathers, and the large brown eyes 
quite redeem the small, flat head, giving them an air of intelli- 
gence. The body of the male is covered by black feathers, 
with long, white plumes on the wings, and gray ones on the 
tail. The females are gray, instead of black, and have the same 



84 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 

plumes. They are about the same size as their mates, and each 
bird averages twenty-five long white plumes to a wing, besides 
those from the tail, and a varying number of medium length 
that can be taken from the body. 

They lay, as a rule, two eggs a month, which are at once 
taken from them and placed in the incubator, which is in a 
long low building kept at an even temperature by hot water 
pipes. After ten days the egg is placed in front of a strong 
ray of light, when a dark spot will show if the chick is form- 
ing ; if not, the egg is blown and the shell kept to give a 
visitor. They hatch after forty-two days, when the bird is 
about the size of a bantam, covered with soft brown feathers. 
They live in hovers a month or two, carefully fed with chopped 
alfalfa, and are then kept in a yard until large enough to be put 
out in pairs. Full growth is attained about a year after hatching, 
and from then on they are plucked every six months. As they are 
strong and pugnacious, the feathers could not be pulled without 
injury were the bird left free, so each one in turn is driven into 
a small box and the door closed behind it. Just at the height 
of the body there are small doors on each side, and by opening 
them the feathers are reached without danger, only the small 
ones are pulled, the others being cut off to give as little pain as 
possible. The feathers are boxed and shipped to a regular 
agent in Paris, who returns large sums for them. The birds 
are fed on alfalfa, never get sick, and live a long while. 






XI. 



CLOSING CEREMONIES OF A CONGRESS OF 
SOUTHERN REPUBLICS. 

A NOVEL AND BRILLIANT SCENE SOME OE THE NOTABLE 

PERSONS PRESENT FINE NAVAL DISPLAY — MARKETS OF 

MONTEVIDEO — HOW THE POLICEMEN ARE FOUND WHEN 
WANTED. 

Flowers were plenty and cheap all about Montevideo, and 
they were used in the greatest profusion upon all occasions. 
Set pieces were the favorites, and I remember the day after a 
wedding seeing two carts loaded with floral offerings, being 
sent to decorate the church that the bride attended — tables a 
yard or more high and as large across, easels with large shields, 
the whole some five to six feet high ; lyres, hearts, harps, and 
wreaths, all of astonishing dimensions, entirely covered with 
lovely flowers. At funerals the hearse would be all overhung 
with enormous wreaths, with fluttering ribbons, on which were 
stamped the name of the donor, some tribute of affection or of 
friendship. The quintas — as houses in the suburbs and country 



86 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 

are called — are surrounded by spaces filled with fruit trees and 
flowers, and the latter are plucked and worn at all times. 

The grandest display I ever saw was one February day, 
when, by invitation, we went to the Solis Theater to see the 
closing ceremonies of an international congress of South 
American republics. The Solis is a large yellow building, set 
well back from the street, with a graveled space in front ; and 
this was deeply covered with branches of eucalyptus, while the 
entrance steps disappeared beneath carpets. The interior is 
like that of most Spanish theaters. On the floor are the 
parquet or orchestra chairs, with five galleries rising above, the 
first three divided off into boxes — a grand box for the President 
over the door, and in one of the tiers several boxes looking 
like bird-cages, with gilded lattices in front, these being for the 
use of any one in mourning who wishes to attend the play 
unseen. The fourth gallery is the cazuela, for ladies who came 
unaccompanied by gentlemen, and the fifth is here called 
paraiso, or " paradise." 

The theater is large and the decorations are simple, but 
at this time the whole interior was draped with blue and 
white cambric, while over these drapings were hundreds of 
festoons of natural flowers, row after row of them, filling the 
air with a delicious fragrance. The curtains of the boxes were 
looped back with bouquets, and on the stage, which was 
covered with a plain red carpet, were huge bunches of potted 



ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 87 

palms. In the rear was a large stand of arms and flags, mirrors 
were set about the sides, and in front was a semicircle of thir- 
teen chairs for the members of the congress. 

The audience was most brilliant. In the state box, in two 
large arm-chairs, sat President Tajes, of Uruguay, and Presi- 
dent Celman, of the Argentine. The latter was the guest of 
the nation, having come over for this special ceremony, arriving 
in state, accompanied by his men-of-war, and received in great 
style by all the foreign ships in the harbor : but, thanks to a 
pampero, he was too sick to appreciate it. He is a slight, pale, 
colorless man, of medium height, with light brown hair, close 
trimmed, full beard, watery blue eyes, and expressionless face. 
He wore citizens' evening dress, with the national baldric of his 
country under his coat. Tajes was also slight, but with broad 
shoulders and a military carriage that showed off well his gold- 
embroidered general's uniform. He has jet-black eyes, hair, 
moustache and imperial, and sallow skin, while altogether the 
expression of his face was not amiable, but rather tartarish ; yet 
it had character, and he looked twice the man his guest did. 
Pie wore the national baldric outside his coat. These dignita- 
ries were surrounded by a glittering throng of diplomats in full 
uniform and military men in attendance. Most of the boxes were 
filled by men wearing uniforms, and the thin summer dresses of 
the ladies were bright in color, the whole making a brilliant 
setting for the two or three civilians, whose simple dress looked 



88 ALONG SHOBE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 

strangely prominent. Those showing most prominently, because 
nearest the throne, were the Vice-President of Uruguay, and 
Senor Brizuela, representative of the republic of Paraguay. 

As soon as the Presidents were seated the thirteen members 
of the congress filed in and took their places, Garcia Lagos, 
minister of foreign affairs, in the center, with Quirna Costa on 
his risrht. All rose to their feet as the orchestra besfan the 
national hymn of the Argentine, and remained so until it was 
finished and the Uruguayan had succeeded it. Then we seated 
ourselves and Senor Lagos rose and read a short paper, welcom- 
ing President Celman, and briefly touching upon the work of 
the congress. To all the natural dignity of his race, Senor 
Lagos adds a noble face, fine voice, large body, and a mass of 
longish white hair, which gives him a leonine appearance. 
There was no applause when he finished. Evidently it was not 
the proper thing, as Quirna Costa, of the Argentine, who fol- 
lowed him with an excellent paper, also took his seat amid 
profound silence. 

Rising once again, Ave all listened to the repetition of the 
national hymns, the two Presidents shook hands, and then we all 
left. No expense had been spared. 

The ceremonies were short, and the whole affair was delight- 
fully dignified ; such a charming contrast to many scenes I had 
witnessed at home, where noise, vehemence, and hilarity take 
the place of dignity, until it really seemed as if our public men, 



ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 89 

when assembled for business, were but a pack of schoolboys out 
on a lark. President Celman staid seven days in all, and was 
entertained all the while, the whole city enjoying a holiday. It 
was a pity he was too sea-sick to see his reception afloat, for it 
was an impressive sight. 

Early on the appointed day all the foreign men-of-war in the 
harbor got up steam and, going outside, anchored so as to form 
a lane for the guest to enter the port by. A strong wind sprang 
up about noon, and as it was four o'clock before the Argentine 
fleet appeared, we were by that time bobbing about right merrily ; 
but the breeze blew the flags out finely and the bright sunshine 
showed the men manning the yards, the shining guns, and all 
the beauties of fighting ships to perfection. First in the pro- 
cession came the three Uruguayan gun-boats, dancing along and 
looking like yachts with their fine lines ; then the Argentine 
fleet, Celman on board the large iron-clad Patagones, which looks 
more like a fort adrift than anything else. As she passed the 
yards were manned, marines paraded on the quarter-deck and a 
national salute of twenty-one guns was fired from each ship, 
each gun being returned from the Almirante Brown, so for a 
time we had all the scenic effects of a naval battle without any 
of its disasters. Celman was taken ashore in an open launch, 
which was fitted in blue and white velvet for the occasion, and 
was well soaked with spray before reaching the wharf, where 
Tajes, a number of dignitaries, and many people were waiting 



90 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 

to welcome him. Several balls were given, the finest being 
those of Saenz Pena, Argentine minister to Uruguay, and the 
Uruguayan Club, the latter throwing open its large new marble 
building on the Martriz plaza. 

There are some curious scenes in the streets here, one of the 
most pleasing being the Sunday morning market on the Eigh- 
teenth of July Street, from Plaza Independencia to Cagancha, 
about one-half mile. By midnight on Saturday the carts begin 
to arrive, and the venders place their wares upon the sidewalk 
or on pieces of cloth spread upon the pavement of the street. 
At daylight the scene opens, and all good marketers are there to 
buy the fresh country vegetables, chickens, geese, kids, baskets 
of native manufacture, braided fans to keep alive charcoal fires, 
pots of red earthenware, whips of rawhide, cheap laces, wax 
matches sold by tiny Italians, candles and quantities of flowers 
in pots. The countrymen in their ponchos, the women in bright 
colored calicoes, the children tumbling about everywhere, and 
the noise of their bargaining — all is interesting, and it only lasts 
a few hours, for by eight o'clock the street must be cleared, 
and it is, every bit of rubbish even having vanished. 

The policemen wear a uniform, and a sort of shako on 
their heads. They are armed with a short two-edged knife 
or sword, called a machete, which they do not hesitate to 
use when arrest is resisted. They also have whistles, which 
they often sound, but I did not succeed in finding out why. 



ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 91 

I frequently saw them sitting on little stools resting, and at 
night they place a hand-lantern in the center of a street 
and stay near it, so if you need a policeman you run for 
the nearest lantern in the street, and there one is sure to 
be. Chickens are carried about in untanned round hide 
baskets that have covers, one slung each side of a mule, 
and it must be uncommonly warm and uncomfortable for 
them. 

On every corner are found changadores, or porters, who 
wear blouses, soft fishermen' s caps, and carry a piece of 
stout rope. They will carry anything anywhere one wishes, 
and charge enormously for doing so. They belong to a 
guild and draw $2 every day as their wages, turning in 
whatever they have received during the day to a collector, 
who visits each one every night. In the suburbs, especially 
near the foot of the mount, there are many saladeros, 
where large numbers of horned cattle are killed daily during 
the summer season, for the hides and flesh, the latter being 
made into jerked beef, quantities of which are sold to Brazil 
and all through the interior. They also kill whole herds 
of horses for their skins alone. Driving large country carts, 
drawn by patient oxen, whose eyes seem starting from their 
sockets with the pain of the heavy beam-like yoke laid 
upon their brains and lashed to their horns, one sees coun- 
trymen in the present dress of the native peasant. It con- 



92 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 

sists of shoes of canvas, with soles made of rope; very 
full trousers, plaited into bands around the waist and ankles ; 
a woolen or cotton shirt, according to the season ; any kind 
of a hat, and always the poncho, which is a square of 
cloth having a slit in the middle for the head to pass 
through. 



XII. 



HOTELS IN MONTEVIDEO— THE FAVORITE BATH- 
ING RESORTS. 

RAMIREZ AND POCITOS THE MOST POPULAR BEACHES — THE 
BEAUTLFUL CEMETERIES OP BITCEO — STREET CAP LINES 
EXTENDING TO ALL THE SUBURBS NOTES AND INCIDENTS. 

When we asked for hotels in Montevideo, two were men- 
tioned as being the very best in town, yet the way they 
are spoken of is unique. It seems to suggest two horns 
of a dilemma, and nothing else. At the Pyramides one is 
promised a good table and small rooms ; at the Oriental, 
good rooms and poor table. We thought any rooms would 
seem large after state-rooms on board ship, so we tried the 
Pyramides. We found the rooms low, small, stuffy, — moldy 
is a better word, — the table fair; charge $3.50 a day, and 
the ordinary conveniences of life so badly attended to that 
we left in a week. Next we tried the Oriental, and spent 
many months there, always welcomed and sped by handsome 



94 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 

•v 

old Don Ramon, whose manners and Spanish made one think 

of the priest he was educated for, hut when you saw his 

troop of children about him, and the happiness in his face 

as he petted and spoiled them all, you felt the world had 

gained if the Church had lost, and that he was truly happy. 

His hotel is said to be the only one where a lady can live alone 

without being annoyed. However that may be, she is certainly 

safe at the Oriental. Ladies eat in the general dining-room 

without being spoken to or unduly stared at. It was built for 

a hotel, is three stories and a basement in height, of brick, 

covered with adobe and a yellow wash. The blinds are painted 

green, and there are numerous flagstaffs on the roof, as when 

he has foreign ministers with him Don Ramon keeps the flag of 

their country flying, and I have seen as many as four fluttering 

in the breeze at one time. All windows go to the floor so as to 

give plenty of air, and there are cracks all around them, as well 

as around the doors. It is built on the corner of Piedras and 

Solis streets, and occupies a square plot. Inside there are four 

inner courts, or patios, which reach to the roof, and are covered 

with glass, awnings also being stretched in summer to keep out 

the sun. Around three of them are the public rooms and 

guest chambers, the fourth being given up to kitchen, laundry, 

and servants' rooms. Around each one, at every story, there 

runs a narrow-railed balcony, which gives access to the rooms, 

and these balconies are reached by a marble staircase. The 



ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 95 

azotea — roof — is fiat and used to dry clothes on, but on most of 
the private houses these flat roofs are used as the broad piazzas 
of homes in the Southern States are. The ceilings of the rooms 
are high, and the floor space all one can desire. The floors are 
covered with carpet, and if one looks after the chamber-maid 
she will keep the room clean and the plentiful furniture dusted. 
The chamber-maid is a luxury in South America, and the 
Oriental only boasts of one, who has charge of all the rooms in 
which there are ladies, the others being looked out for by two 
men. The windows of the rooms next the street, as I said 
before, reach to the floor and open on to narrow balconies ; in 
summer these stand open day and night, } r et one is never 
troubled by the neighbors, and a robbery is unheard of. The 
inside rooms, which are by far the more numerous, get light 
and air through a hybrid door-window, that is, a door with panes 
of glass in it. Inside, if guests wish light and air, they must 
sacrifice privacy, and vice versa. The balconies and passage- 
ways are floored with brick and the walls whitewashed. The 
dining-room is on the ground floor, and receives light and air 
from three glass doors into the patio and one into a passage, 
and it was often so dark we could not see to read. The floor of 
wood, inlaid, was very nice in summer ; but in winter, as there 
is no fire in the hotel outside of the kitchen, one often sighs for 
the warmth of a carpet, yet, noticing the native habit of ex- 
pectorating, flinging cigarette stumps and matches on the floor, 



96 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 

one becomes reconciled to a floor that can be scrubbed. The 
food is good, and after one becomes used to the garlic and 
onions it is palatable. Onions and garlic are in every dish, and 
there is not the slightest use in remonstrating. Neither for 
love nor for money will these cooks leave it out. 

I have described the Oriental at such length because it was 
the best we found, and because it is typical. The slipshod way 
in which everything was managed, no housekeeper, no head- 
waiter, all the servants doing as they choose, the guests putting 
up with everything and enjoying themselves ; Don Ramon 
polite, smiling, always ready to pour oil on the troubled waters ; 
the large, airy building, the whiteness of marble and white- 
wash everywhere, the waste of space in the patios, and the 
many dark rooms, — all were typical. 

In summer the place was a beehive, for it is the fashion in 
Buenos Ayres to go to Montevideo for the baths, the latter city 
beino- so much nearer the ocean that the water is somewhat salt. 
Family after family would arrive, and the size of some of them 
was astonishing — papa, mamma, any number of children up to 
a dozen, cousins, aunts, uncles, and all sorts of relations. They 
would take a few large rooms and stow themselves away, only 
they and the chamber-maid knew how. They would fill the 
house to overflowing, and then the jmtios were delightful 
places. All were always jolly and every one did as they 
pleased. The pretty girls wore lovely toilets and were always. 



ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 97 

ready for a cliat or a walk, provided it was not a man who 
approached them. If one of the last-mentioned came to call 
they would sit as demure as kittens and let mamma or aunt do 
the conversing, putting in here and there a word or smile, but 
not many. In the early afternoon their very best frocks were 
donned, along with their gayest hats and prettiest jewelry, the 
children would grasp pail and shovel, and there would be an 
exodus for the bathing beaches. 

There are two favorite places, Ramirez and Pocitos, either 
only to be reached by a long ride in the street cars. Ramirez is 
the nearer, and after a twenty minutes' dash along the streets, 
through soft warm air and clouds of dust, one arrives at a long 
pier, the shore end of which has a restaurant, band-stand, and 
little tables set about on a platform. At the other end are bath 
houses, with ladders leading down into the water, and these 
were the favorite resorts for those who could swim. On one 
side of the pier were a number of bathing machines, which 
were drawn in and out of the water by mules, and into these 
the pretty girls, with their dainty, gayly-colored gowns, would 
flock, be drawn out into water, and, when pulled in again, 
would emerge with everything in perfect order and their 
crimps intact. It was a puzzle, until I was told that they never 
went into the water at all, but made the excuse to go to the 
beach, and afterward sit around the tables, taking some light 

refreshment, and having their toilets and themselves admired 

7 



98 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 

by the men, old and young, who nocked there, and who are 
obliged to bathe on quite another part of the beach. Of course 
there was a tambo — cow-shed. Tambos abounded in the city 
and in all the suburbs, for the natives like milk hot from the 
cow, and to get it they will go into a cow-shed, sit there among 
all the odors and flies, and drink milk which they see milked. 

It takes about three-quarters of an hour to reach Pocitos, but 
when reached it is quite a little town, and the beach is really a 
good sandy one. The restaurant is on a hotel piazza, and there 
is a pier for promenaders. A number of people of Montevideo 
have country places here, but the majority of visitors stay in 
the city, and come down each day for their dip. 

Not much farther down the coast are the cemeteries of Buceo, 
one used by the Roman Catholics, and the other owned by an 
English company and open to Protestants. They are lovely 
places, lying, as they do, on a slope of land with a lovely view 
of surrounding plains and boundless river. Then there are so 
many flowers, great masses of them all about, and borders, 
stretching down between the rows of silent dead. It is horrible 
to have any one we have been friendly with buried far from 
home, quite among strangers ; but if one could ever be recon- 
ciled to it, it would be in the quiet, lovely, flower-decked 
cemetery of Buceo. The street-car lines extend for miles out 
into the country in all directions. Horses are cheap, so three 
or four are put to a car and driven to death. They go at a 



ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 99 

great pace, and are urged by a whip long enough to wrap around 
the necks of the leaders. Distances are great, but I have seen 
the poor beasts abused until I preferred to get out and walk. 
For any but the swellest funerals, and even for some of those, 
it is customary to hire street cars for the mourners, and one 
often sees a hearse, with perhaps one carriage containing the 
immediate family, trotting along the streets heading a proces- 
sion of street cars filled with men smoking 1 cigarettes. Women 
do not go to funerals, and the men are always smoking their 
eternal cigarettes. As a friend remarked, it was only needed 
for the corpse to sit up and smoke, to complete the picture and 
make all hands happy. 



XIII. 

THE CARNIVAL SEASON IN THE GAY CAPITAL OF 

URUGUAY. 

DECORATIONS AND PROCESSIONS, THE BATTLE OF FLOWERS — 
PRIVATE AND PUBLIC BALLS — AN EVENING AT THE SPANISH 
CLUB — MUSIC AND OTHER ATTRACTIONS AT THE CITY PARK. 

The three days before Ash Wednesday ushers in Lent 
are given over in Montevideo to the delights and license 
of the carnival, but many days before that the city was 
filled with preparations, and the daily papers with announce- 
ments and comments. Eighteenth of July, Twenty-fifth 
of May, Sarandi, and parts of Colon streets, Indepenclencia, 
Constitucion, and Zabala plazas were decorated by the city, as 
along them the daily procession was to pass. Every few feet 
on each side of these streets, next the curb, a paving-stone was 
removed, and one end of a long, slender, square pole driven into 
the place thus made. These poles were wound with blue and 
white cambric ; from pole to pole were hung rows of small bunt- 
ing flags of every conceivable shape and hue. This made two 



ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 101 

bright lines of color by day, while a row of Japanese lanterns 
hung under the flags and, illuminated each evening, gave color 
and brightness at night. Across the street arches of gas jets 
were placed, and there must have been several thousands of them. 
In the plazas there were the same decorations, an addition being 
the substitution of blue and white glass globes for the every-day 
white ones. Blue and white are the national colors, the flag 
being composed of narrow horizontal alternate stripes of the two 
colors, a white field in the upper corner next the staff having a 
yellow sun upon it. 

The store windows all displayed a goodly assortment of 
pomitos, which are lead tubes with caps, like those that oil 
paints come in, only very much larger. They are filled with 
cheap scented water, and by giving them a good squeeze one 
could throw a jet of the water, with considerable accuracy, 
about six feet. Everything, except these and flowers, it was 
strictly forbidden to throw, yet we were advised to seek the 
seclusion of our rooms, and stay there during King Folly's 
reign, as dirty water and ancient eggs would be used as much as 
ever. That, however, was not our idea of seeing foreign people 
and their ways, so Sunday we put on some old clothes and 
sallied forth. First we took a ride around in the street cars, 
and saw groups of maskers in their Sunday best, all laughing 
and having a good time. Here and there were rooms where 
societies, in fancy dress, were gathering before joining the proces- 



102 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 

sion ; but beyond one small boy, who was filling a rubber squirt 
at a mud-puddle in the street, there was nothing alarming, 
so we got out, and, making our way to the Eighteenth of July 
Street, found the broad thoroughfare crowded. Prizes had been 
offered for the finest decorated house along the route, while in 
the procession the finest ornamented car belonging to a society, 
the best decorated carriage, the finest horses, and prettiest 
costume were all to be rewarded. The crowd was good-natured 
and merry ; the maskers were quite plenty, very few in fancy 
dress, nearly all wearing dominos ; pomitos were plentiful and 
freely used, the neck and face being the favorite points of attack, 
and woe to any one who wore eyeglasses ; they were wet as 
quickly as dried and the wearer helpless most of the time. 

Every house has one or more balconies, which were all more 
or less gayly decorated, one family having brought out all their 
parlor furniture, hanging the curtains on the outside of the 
windows, the pier mirrors between, and placing ornaments here 
and there as they usually were displayed inside. Mounted 
police and soldiers tried to keep a passage-way open down the 
center of the street, and finally the procession came. First 
marched a band of music, and then the managers, mounted on 
fine horses ; after these many societies with bands of music here 
and there. The favorite dress among these associations was a 
species of African, consisting of plenty of black tights, fancy 
colored trunk breeches, anklets, armlets, wigs of long wool, a 



ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 103 

big straw hat hanging on their back by strings passed around 
the neck, and a tin rattle or wooden clapper in one hand. 

There were numerous Italian societies and a band of bull- 
fighters — the bull, two men encased in an old hide— and when- 
ever the procession halted they gave a most comical burlesque 
of a bull fight. One tall red wagon was filled with men dressed 
as butterflies, their red bodies and gracefully waving golden- 
gauze wings being beautiful. A band of Spanish students were 
noticeable ; and finally came the citizens, in carriages, headed by 
the President's wife, in full evening dress, the vehicle decorated 
with the national colors. Many of the ladies were simply in 
evening toilets, with tiny black velvet masks, while others were 
in fancy costume, some of the latter being especially striking. 
The battle of flowers that day was on part of the Twenty-fifth 
of May Street, and a great many blossoms were thrown between 
the balconies and carriages during the hours when it lasted.. 
That evening the illuminations were very fine, all the gas 
arches and lanterns being alight, and all the public buildings 
outlined with tiny flames. There were crowds of people in the 
streets, afoot and in carriages, all good-natured, all using 
pomitos, and all having a charming time. Even the small boys, 
who followed every one that had a nearly empty pomito, so as 
to get the lead case when thrown away to sell, were as jolly as 
sandpipers, which is not generally the case, children here being 
too solemn and sedate as a general rule to please me. 



104 ALONG SHOBE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 

Monday was a repetition of Sunday, except that we went in 
the evening to a fine ball given by the Spanish Club in their 
roomy quarters on the Eighteenth of July Street. All the clubs 
give balls every night of the carnival, and there are besides 
many private and public balls, but we were advised to accept 
our Spanish Club invitation as being the most exclusive and 
best club at that time. Their lofty rooms are entirely decorated 
in the national colors — red and gold — which make them very 
brilliant ; and large as they were, by one o'clock they were filled 
to suffocation, so the fine band, hidden among palms, played 
dance music to no practical purpose. There were handsome 
toilets, but not among the maskers. Only ladies were allowed 
the privilege of hiding their faces, and as those who took 
advantage of it never uncovered them, nor removed their 
dominos, there was no incentive among them to fine gowns. ^ 
They prefer dominos, as they cover hair, neck, and ears, making 
identification more difficult. Supper and fine wines were served 
all the evening, and one could easily see where the club spent 
$13,000 on their three balls. 

The third evening we passed at the Italian legation, the Duke 
and Duchess Licignano inviting their friends and throwing 
open their house to receive maskers. Many of the latter came, 
and among them a company of Morescas, who danced an old 
Italian sword dance for our edification, and then we danced 
ourselves until Lent came in. Lent should have caused the 




TIJUCA, BRAZIL, 



ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 105 

cessation of masks and mummery, but it did not ; groups in odd 
attire went about the streets, and there were balls every night 
until the following Monday, when the decorated wagons — with 
their flowers all faded — were brought out once more to escort 
the dying King of Carnival to his grave in the Prado. A figure 
lay upon a couch in one of the carts ; one doctor leaned over 
him with a fan, while another stood by with a lot of instru- 
ments in his hands, but both were shaking their heads dolefully, 
and by the end of the journey he was supposed to be dead, and 
unceremoniously hustled into a hole in the ground. The next 
day the decorations were removed, the city resumed its quiet, 
gray aspect, and our ears were no longer tortured by the shrill 
falsetto tones assumed by the maskers to add to their disguise. 
The whole public cost was $ 17,000, $ 15,000 of which was paid 
by the Government. 

The Prado is a large tract of land lying in the outskirts of 
the city, which was once intended for a private residence, but is 
now used as a city park. It is approached under long lines of 
eucalyptus trees and the grounds are prettily laid out although 
far from finished. There is a sluggish stream that passes along 
one side and many fine trees. A hotel and restaurant, near 
which a band plays on certain days in the week, form an ending 
place for afternoon drives, and one of those curving, endless 
railways has lately been erected. Part of the park is fenced off 
and used by different societies for their fetes, which sometimes 



106 ALONG SHOBE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 

last several days. No admittance fee is charged, and the place 
is crowded with booths, where manufactured or real curiosities 
are exhibited, places where one may shoot at a mark, or listen to 
a concert. Strolling bands of two or more musicians, armed 
with violins, guitars, or bagpipes, mingle with the crowd and, 
stopping wherever they see a group of young people, soon have 
a circle about them dancing a sort of waltz upon the uneven 
turf. But the great attraction was always came con cuero, or 
beef roasted with the hide on ; not a whole animal, but parts of 
it. Placed on long iron spits before the fires — which were 
built all about — would be pieces of beef with the hide side next 
the fire, the whole being delightfully flavored by the smoke 
from the burning hair and frizzling hide. The odor was always 
sufficient to fill me with disgust, yet it was very popular, 
sometimes even being served in the hotel. 



XI V, 
A BULL FIGHT IN MONTEVIDEO. 

BULLS THAT SHOWED FIGHT AND BULLS THAT DID NOT- 
SOME CRUEL SCENES — A DISORDERLY ENDING. 

I WAS one of a party who were breakfasting one Sunday 
at the home of a resident American, when he proposed a visit 
to the bull-ring, to show his countrywomen the glories and 
horrors of a fight. Our church here is closed for the present, 
waiting the arrival of a minister from England; hence our 
religion was at a low ebb, and we accepted his invitation. 

We rode for half an hour over as bad pavements as any 
city in the world can show, the drivers going at the usual 
pace of about forty miles to the hour. However, we finally 
arrived at the suburban village of La Union, were whirled up 
to the outside of the large brick bull-ring, and tried to shake 
off some of the dust, while our escort joined a shouting, 
surging crowd that was besieging a large grated window, over 
which was the sign, " Boletes de primera clase " — first class 



108 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 

tickets. Soon he returned, and we entered a low arched 
passage, climbed a flight of stairs, passed part way around 
the circle, and, descending as near the arena as we could, 
seated ourselves on some nice, freshly whitewashed seats. 

The building in which we found ourselves is a large brick 
amphitheatre, with a broad walk on top, which is partly 
covered by a row of boxes with six seats in each and corru- 
gated iron roofs. Below these in unbroken circles are low 
brick seats, capable of holding 10,000 people and occupied 
by about 5,000 on this day. Those on the shady side were 
the first-class places and some had whitewashed seats on them, 
while others had movable cushions, each man being handed 
one as he came in. Below these seats were the entrances 
and exits for the espadas, banderilleros, picadores, and bulls. 
Just below the box of the president of the sports was the 
entrance for the men, and opposite, that for the bulls. There 
were two circles, a large sanded one in the centre, with a 
strong board fence some nine feet high surrounding it and 
several bits of fence placed here and there, just in front of 
the main one and close to it, for the men to hide behind 
when too closely pressed. The outer circle was about fifteen 
feet wide, and this was partitioned off with swinging doors 
and movable fences. The programme promised us six bulls, 
two of them imported from Spain, from the flock of his 
Excellency the Duke of Veragua, and four native animals, 



ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 109 

besides, four native Lulls held in reserve. The Spanish bulls 
were named Serenity and Vinegar, and did not belie their 
names. There were four espadas, the first named Joaquin 
Sanz of Valencia, and the second Juan Gimenez of Ecija. 
There were three picadores and seven banderilleros, all 
Spaniards. The prices were $10 for a box, $1 for a seat, 
$1.50 entrance fee for a first-class adult, and 70 cents for 
a child. The entrance to the second-class, or sunny seats, 
was $1 for all ages. At the bottom of the programme were 
ten announcements by the management : (1.) To avoid crowd- 
ing at the entrances, the doors will be opened at one o'clock 
and will close half an hour after the finish, except in case 
of rainy weather, when the audience will be allowed to remain 
longer if they wish. (2.) No more bulls will be fought 
than the programme announces. (3.) No one will be 
allowed to throw articles into the arena, which might injure 
the combatants, and no obscene laneruaere will be tolerated. 
(4.) No one but employees will be allowed between the 
barriers. (5.) Banderillas of fire will be used for every 
bull who refuses three times to face the picadores. (6.) In 
case one, two, or all the picadores are injured, the manage- 
ment will not be obliged to furnish others. (7.) Bulls which, 
in judgment of the president, will not fight, will be led off by 
the bell-ox. (8). The president will be a person chosen by 
the management. (9.) If the performance is interrupted by 



110 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAB. 

some unforeseen circumstance, the entrance money will not 
be refunded. (10.) Any one who creates a disturbance will 
be handed over to the police. 

As we took our seats the band was playing a waltz ; three 
mounted picadores, dressed in yellow, with broad-brimmed gray 
felt hats and long steel-pointed rods in their hands, were sta- 
tioned around the circle, equidistant, facing the center. Their 
horses were sorry-looking nags, and two of them were blind- 
folded. Behind each picador stood a man in a jockey suit of 
red and yellow, carrying in his hand a cruel rawhide whip to 
urge the horse with in case it showed a faint heart or refused 
to return to the attack after being wounded. In front of the 
President's box stood the banderilleros in the gorgeous, beauti- 
ful dress of the bull-fighter ; their breeches and jackets a glitter- 
ing mass of gold and silver, the broad-rimmed black hats with 
pompons and loops, the braid of hair down their backs orna- 
mented with the peculiar chignon-like article which they 
affect ; brilliant-colored silk stockings and low shoes completing 
the dress. Alert, graceful, and composed, they stood with 
their eyes fixed on the opposite entrance, their red cloaks held 
trailing on the ground before them. The door swung slowly 
open, and out stepped a fine native bull. For a second he 
looked about him astonished, then, catching sight of the red 
cloaks, he dashed across the arena, to be met by one of them 
being 1 thrown over his head as the banderillero who held it 



ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. \\\ 

vaulted to one side, and snatching his cloak towards him, 
moved, shaking it, to one side. The bull turned to charge for 
him again, when his eye was caught by a picador on a gray 
horse. The picador saw him and received him with a stab on 
his neck from the point of his lance, but the charge was too 
impetuous, and the picador was unhorsed, while the poor horse 
received the horns of the bull full in his chest; there was a 
gush of blood and he rolled over just as a banderillero turned 
the bull's attention with his red cloak and coaxed him to the 
other side of the arena, where he and his associates kept him 
occupied, charging first one cloak and then another until the 
picador was lifted up and taken out of the ring, and the horse 
was flogged until he half rose and was dragged into the 
outer circle. The bull wounded two other horses, and 
as one of the banderilleros was dazzling him with his 
cloak he slipped and fell. The bull charged for him, but 
the man lay as if dead and the bull evidently thought him so, 
for he charged over him, only tearing his breeches, to attack 
another who came to his rescue. It was a thrilling- moment, 
and the people, getting excited, began to call for the ban- 
derillas. A trumpet sounded from the presidential box, a door 
swung open, and the picadores vanished, while half of the band- 
erilleros threw aside their cloaks and each of them took two 
banderillas and prepared to use them. These are wooden sticks 
about three feet long, wound with colored strips of paper, and in 



112 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 

one end having a barbed iron-point. A man would take one in 
each hand, and standing before the bull, invite an attack by 
holding them up and waving them. The bull charges and the 
man, while retreating, reaches over the horns and plants the 
barbs in the neck, jumping aside at the same instant. The long 
sticks hang and drag on the wound, irritating the bull tremen- 
dously. 

The people evidently intended to manage the affair, and 
the president seemed to occupy the place of an umpire at 
a base-ball game in their estimation ; first they called for the 
banderillas, and now, when six had been inserted, they began 
to call for the espada. The audience was almost entirely 
composed of men of the better class, and they were very 
noisy, using all sorts of instruments to assist their voices ; 
a man just behind me had a huge cow-bell, which he rang 
in and out of season, while a crippled Spaniard, who was 
carried in a man's arms and sat just in front of me, had 
a splendid pair of lungs, and enjoyed abusing the whole 
thing immensely ; it was not bloody enough for him, and 
he assured the president, among other things, that cholera 
was unnecessary this year; the country was already suffi- 
ciently disgraced by such a bull-fight. At last the trumpet 
sounded a few notes, and the espada, with his bright red 
cloak and glittering sword, entered the arena and bowed 
and smiled to the audience. A little more torture of the bull, 



ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 118 

and the espacla succeeded in burying his sword up to the 
hilt, just back of the neck, always attacking him from the 
front. It was a bad stroke and did not kill, so there was 
more charging and waving of cloaks until the espada suc- 
ceeded in pulling the sword out. Then another attack, and 
again the blade was buried and the stroke a bad one. The 
sword was pulled out again and found to be broken, but 
still the espada fought with it until the bull was on his 
knees, when some one handed him a short, heavy weapon, 
one blow from which was given between the horns, and the 
bull rolled over dead. It was such butchery that there was 
no applause, and the men left the arena in silence, while 
three caparisoned mules came dashing in, were attached to 
the carcass, and dashed out with it while the music played.- 
The second bull refused to fight, turning from the picadores 
and even from the cloaks of the banderilleros. The popu- 
lace demanded, " Fuego ! banderillas de fitego ! fuego, Senor 
Presidente ! " But the president declined, and the doors on 
one side opened to admit two large dun-colored oxen with 
big bells on their necks. The bull seemed to know them. 
He joined them, and the three were whipped out of the 
ring. This was the imported bull named Serenity. The 
third bull came dashing into the ring- with a fresh wound on 
one of his hind-quarters, given evidently just as he left the 
stable. To improve his courage, and as he came on in his 



114 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 

charge, a banderillero, taking a long pole in his hand, rushed 
towards him and vaulted clear over him. His fury was short- 
lived, however, and he soon was condemned by the people, 
who shouted, " Fuera ! fuera ! " until he was led off. The 
fourth and fifth bulls were like him, and by this time the 
populace were getting rather unruly, so the sixth animal 
was forced to fight. The picadores stuck him until the blood 
ran in streams down his neck, then six banderillas were 
planted in his neck ; after which the poor wretch tried to 
escape, and climbed the nine-foot fence four times, only to 
be driven from one enclosure into another, and finally back 
into the ring. At last another espada entered, and the 
fourth time the sword was driven in up to the hilt, the 
beast fell dead, and was dragged off to the sound of more 
music. The seventh, eighth, and ninth bulls refused to 
fight, and were hissed off, the people getting more and 
more excited, until most of them were on their feet express- 
ing their sentiments. The other ladies of the party had 
retired, and I seemed to excite the admiration of the men 
by having staid, and they were careful to stand on one 
side so that I could see, and there were no coarse remarks 
made near me. 

The tenth bull was the Spanish Vinegar, and he fought well; 
in less than ten minutes he had killed three horses and wounded 
three, in spite of the efforts of the picadores. One he gored to 



ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 115 

death in the ring, fighting him until he ceased even to raise his 
head ; another ran around with his bowels hanging from a wound 
until he came to a gate which was opened, and he ran in ; the 
other was dragged out on his knees ; the three wounded ones 
pranced out, and then the bull attacked the men, and the peo- 
ple settled down in their seats. There were many narrow escapes, 
much vaulting over the fence and jumping behind screens ; eight 
banderillas were planted, and then the espada came out and 
literally butchered him, striking over and over again before he 
fell. His carcass was dragged out, and also that of the dead 
horse. Once more the picadores took their places, and a tame 
bull walked in. This was too much for the audience, and there 
was a perfect shower of cushions and seats thrown into the arena, 
and the people rose and began to surge to and fro. I sat still 
until a man said to my escort : " Get higher up ; here come the 
chairs and boxes." Then we began to make our way out, and it 
was decidedly dangerous, as the people were tearing the boxes 
to pieces and hurling everything they could into the arena — 
doors, boards, and all. It was slow work getting out, but every 
one helped me, all pushing and saying, " Una senora ! cuidado d 
la senora ! " As we went out I looked back and saw a wonder- 
ful picture. Horses, picadores, banderilleros, and the assistants, 
all had retreated to the further side of the circle, and stood there 
in their beautiful attire looking up at the enraged multitude and 
the missiles hurled at them. On the nearer side stood the bull, 



116 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 

he too gazing up, transfixed with, astonishment ; and all about 
me was the surging mobs, the sound of their exclamations and the 
cracking of breaking timbers filling the air. The few police in- 
side were powerless, but as I came out a company of them armed 
with rifles filed in, and as we drove away in our carriage the 
rattle of musketry was the last sound to reach us from the bull 
ring. It was a horrible three hours that I had passed, and the 
nervous strain was great. The blood, the butchery of the bulls, 
the poor wounded horses, goaded on again and again to resist 
the attack, the quick catching of the breath as a man saved his 
life by a sudden dexterous twist of his body or leap over the 
fence, the enthusiasm which animated you in spite of the horror 
of it, were all trying ; yet I am glad I went, for I firmly believe 
that the world is always better to-day than it was yesterday, and 
this is but another proof of it ; for bull-fighting, which, with 
all its attendant horrors, was once a favorite and common 
pastime, has now almost vanished off the face of the earth, and 
soon we shall know it only from books, as we know of the 
Inquisition and of slaves sold in the market-place. 



XV. 

CITY OF BUENOS AYRES. 

SCENES ON THE WATER FRONT — A POPULOUS TOWN WITH NAR- 
ROW STREETS — THE PLAZA VICTORIA NOTABLE BUILD- 
INGS — THE CATHEDRAL, EXCHANGE, PALACE — POINTS OF 
INTEREST. 

There is a line of steamers plying between Montevideo and 
Buenos Ayres whose managers buy up all opposition and man- 
age things to suit themselves. The steamers are fairly good, 
and make the trip across the river in about twelve hours, but 
one has to take a small boat to, and then scramble over the side 
when in Montevideo ; and as to getting ashore in Buenos Ayres 
before the time when steamers entered the Boca — well ! it was a 
disagreeable picnic. 

Buenos Ayres may be said not to have a harbor, as vessels of 
deep draught have to anchor some twelve miles off. There they 
discharge their cargo into lighters, which, being flat-bottomed, 
can go within half a mile of the shore. From the lighters the 



118 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 

boxes and bales are piled into carts that are drawn by three or 
more horses, and driven out into the water to reach the lighters 
until just the backs and heads of the horses are above the water. 
Immense loads are put into the carts, and the poor horses are 
soon killed by their work, for not only are their loads heavy, 
and standing in the water — often very cold — injurious, but they 
are badly shod, harnessed, and most cruelly beaten as they stag- 
ger ashore and strain up the short, steep, illy-paved street which 
leads to the custom-house. Vessels that draw no more than ten 
feet can come within four miles of the city, and from their decks 
the city shows as a long line of buildings stretched along the 
horizon. Passengers were put into small boats, and, if the river 
were high enough, rowed to one end of a long pier opposite the 
custom-house. If the tide was out they went ashore in a cart, 
like the merchandise, making a most annoying and expensive 
journey, as every change costs enormously. A port is being 
built, but it will take a long time to complete it. Work was 
begun about two miles south of the city and near the original 
settlement, where a small stream called the Riachuelo empties 
into the Plate. The Riachuelo was dug out, deepened, and 
widened, and an embankment built on either side of this basin, 
with wharves on top of the embankment. A canal-like en- 
trance was excavated as far as the outer harbor, so now a certain 
number of vessels of deep draught can enter this basin and 
discharge at the wharves. They would sometimes crowd as 



ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 119 

many as four hundred in, and it does very well in winter ; but 
the Riachuelo is too small to keep a current flowing through the 
basin. Thus the water is stagnant, and in summer it makes 
the air so foul that there is much sickness among the shipping. 

This port and the village about it is called the Boca, and it is 
connected with the city by steam and street cars. The plan 
of the port is to build a series of basins along the present city 
front, and a wall-way outside of them, where the river is deep, 
and then fill between the wall and the basins. This will give 
them acres and acres of ground, and they sold them long in 
advance at very high prices. 

Buenos Ayres is the capital of the Argentine Republic, not 
the Argentine Confederation. It used to be the latter, but they 
have had the war, and the blood has been spilt which seems 
necessary to weld nations together, and now they are firmly 
united. Driven to desperation by the tyrannies of Juan Manuel 
Rosas, a union was formed which triumphed, and in driving 
him forth as an exile they for a time, at least, drove forth the 
lawless spirit that reveled in bloody revolutions, and since then 
the nation has flourished until the late financial troubles. 
Rosas' life would have paid the forfeit of his years of crime had 
not the English minister, a man whom he had wantonly insulted, 
lent the folds of the English flag to protect him, while he and 
his boxes of treasure were conveyed on board an English mer- 
chantman lying in the outer roads. 



120 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF- WAR. 

The city was founded just to the south of the present site — 
near the Boca — by Pedro del Mendoza, in 1535, and now con- 
tains about half a million inhabitants. It is a beautiful city, as 
a whole, with an amount of business in the streets that crowds 
them, but the streets are narrow. I am told they were built so 
because they are so much cooler in summer, but I fancy 
they were originally built so for purposes of defense as well as 
coolness. 

We landed at the long wharf and found it well filled with 
Italian emigrants in the picturesque costumes of their native 
land. Walking up, our attention was called to the line of 
washerwomen along the shore. They were pursuing the same 
process as those on the oriental bank of the river, only here the 
river so seldom rises that the pools of water along the bank are 
seldom overflowed, and women were washing in pools that were 
not only white with soap, but some were covered with a green 
slime. It is not pleasant to contemplate wearing such clothes, 
and we always tried for a washerwoman who used the water 
from her cistern, or, as a Japanese boy put it, got water on a 
string. 

At the shore end of the wharf, a long, narrow park extends 
for quite a distance along the water front, and it is very pretty, 
with its green grass, trees, and neatly kept walks. The plaza 
Victoria, named in honor of the victory of the 25th of May, 
1810, is only two blocks from the landing, and is the oldest as 



ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 121 

well as the most interesting one in town. It is eight acres in 
extent, and lias two grass plots, intersected, by walks and sepa- 
rated by a broad paved roadway. In the center of one plot is 
an adobe monument to Liberty in a bad state of repair, the adobe 
peeling off the brick foundation in many places. Gas-pipes out- 
line it so that it may be illuminated, and it is surrounded by an 
iron railing. In the other plot of grass is a large equestrian 
bronze statue in honor of Gen. San Martin, I was told, but 
there is no name on it. He evidently is superior to the tra- 
ditionary hero, who needs but the naming of his name, the tell- 
ing of his story. 

All around the outside of these inner squares is a double row 
of royal palms that flourish fairly well in spite of the cold. 
Then comes the surrounding street, and finally the buildings. 
One of these standing on a corner is the Cathedral, a large 
imposing white building, with a fine portico. There are no 
towers, and the dome is so far back that one does not see it well 
from the street level. Passing the portico, you enter, to find a 
building which impresses you by its great size and the simple 
decorations in white and gold, even the altars being chiefly 
noticeable for the falls of gold and silver lace that decorate 
them. Leo XIII., the present Pope, was attached to the 
cathedral when a young priest, and is said to have officiated at 
its altars. 

A chapel off the right aisle contained the remains of the great 



12-2 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 

general, San Martin, which are inclosed in a splendid tomb 
standing in the center of the chapel, an inscription claiming 
him as the liberator of the Argentine, Chilian, and Peruvian 
republics. The Roman Catholic religion is supported by the 
government and nourishes financially in consequence. Next 
the Cathedral is the large episcopal residence, and on the 
same side of the plaza, nearer the river, is the splendid new 
Exchange, the old building being cleverly incorporated by the 
architect. 

The whole side of the plaza next the river is occupied by a 
government building that I generally heard spoken of as the 
Palace. It is two stories and a mansard roof in height, and has 
two grand entrances. It is guarded day and night by soldiers 
with fixed bayonets, and here are the offices of the President, 
his cabinet, and many other government officials of minor 
importance. It is not yet finished, a terrace at one end and the 
part facing the river being only about half completed. 

One of the custom-house buildings is next, and just across 
Balcarce Street is the low building with a big entrance which 
contains the House of Parliament ; there being only one hall, 
the senators and representatives sitting on alternate days. I 
wished much to enter, but was informed that my sex debarred 
me, and all the satisfaction I could get out of it was to ask 
every Argentine I was introduced to, why ? and then let him 
explain until he got tired. It was at the door of this building 



ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 123 

that an attempt was made to assassinate General Roca when he 
was President. 

Our minister, Bayliss W. Hanna, was the first to reach the 
wounded man and give him protection and assistance, an act 
which was never forgotten by the Argentine government, and 
Mr. Hanna is a prominent figure in the painting, which was 
executed by Senor Blanes, the distinguished Uruguayan artist, 
upon the order of Gen. Roca, in commendation of the event. 
It represents the senate in session, President Roca present with 
a bloody bandage about his head and Minister Hanna standing 
in a small box, one or two other diplomats showing behind 
him. 



XVI. 

SHOPS OF BUENOS AYRES. 

PONCHOS IN VARIOUS STYLES — VALUABLE RUGS AND ROBES — 
FINE PARAGUAYAN FABRICS — BOMBILLAS AND MATE CUP 
— HABIT OF MATE-DRINKING. 

The streets of Buenos Ayres are uncommonly narrow, and 
the sidewalks are made to match. Two persons can pass, but 
that is all, and the men are very rude about stopping to talk in 
groups, which entirely obstruct the sidewalk. And they do 
not move unless you deliberately halt and request them to let 
you by. Then they do so with smiles and bows, to show their 
perfect willingness to oblige. Some of the shops are rilled 
with beautiful objects of art, generally from France or Italy ; 
but as a rule the windows are small and low, not calculated for 
a fine display of goods. The majority seemed filled with 
gentlemen's wearing apparel, such a charming display of dainty 
underwear, and the men one meets are so well-dressed, so 
altogether pleasing to the eye that even a stranger must con- 



ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 125 

done their getting in your way, and. their other habit of remark- 
ing in audible tones upon your appearance, telling you frankly 
if you look well or ill, if your bonnet and gown are becoming 
or not ; letting you know, in short, how you appear to a 
stranger. It makes me smile even now to remember the indig- 
nation of a gentleman from one of our Southern States because 
the loungers on Calle Florida informed the lady he was 
escorting that she was decidedly homely. 

Calle Florida is the Broadway of the city and is thronged 
every afternoon, the largest crowds being near the cafe's. The 
women wear Parisian gowns and hats, and when young are as 
pretty, plump little pigeons as one could desire. Now and 
then a beautiful elderly woman passes .; the majority, however, 
lose all shape as they age. There are a great many large 
wholesale stores filled with samples and boxes, chiefly English 
and German goods, which make their way by railroad and ox 
team into the interior. The Buenos Ayres papers always give 
the amount of skins and country produce brought into the city 
daily, and among the reports was one market where everything 
quoted was brought in in large prairie-schooner wagons drawn 
by numbers of patient oxen. 

The streets are filled with carts loaded with merchandise and 
drawn by several horses, the leaders being harnessed with such 
long traces that they often meander all over the sidewalk, 
being quite beyond the control of the driver, and one has con- 



126 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 

stantly to keep an eye on passing vehicles to look out for 
horses coming in one's way. The Argentine is fond of good 
horseflesh, and there are many fine specimens to he seen draw- 
ing beautiful carriages, especially in the afternoon in Palermo 
Park. 

A very interesting store to me was one filled with the pro- 
ducts of the country. There was wine from the province of 
San Juan, Mendoza, Rioja, and Catamarca, both red and white, 
and some of the claret from Catamarca was quite good. There 
were piles and piles of ponchos, made of vicuna, llama, alpaca, 
and sheep's wool. The finest and most expensive were of 
vicuna. One beauty as soft and fine as silk cost $1,000. The 
cheapest and coarsest are of sheep's wool and bring from $3 to 
$4 each. They are all woven by hand and wear wonderfully 
well, the fine vicuna ones often being heirlooms. I was told 
that instead of putting a chip on his shoulder or requesting 
some one to tread on the tail of his coat, that the man who 
wears the poncho when seeking for a fight holds one corner 
over his shoulder, allowing the other to trail on the ground, 
and thus parades until he meets a kindred spirit, who picks up 
the glove by treading on the trailing corner, and then the 
fight begins. The color is generally some shade of brown, 
from the lightest cafe au lait to a dark chocolate, except, of 
course, the alpacas, and, being natural colors, wear out before 
they fade, the hair from the neck and stomach giving one 



ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 127 

shade, that on the back another, and so on. The pattern is 
universally stripes, running lengthwise. The markets are now 
flooded with imitations made in England, and as they are of 
good wool, as well as cheaper, of course, than the handmade, 
they are worn a great deal, but they are a different looking 
article from the native ones, even when as thin and fine. 
There are heavy saddle-bags and saddle-cloths of woolen and a 
good many jams and marmalades made in the northern prov- 
inces where fruit is plentiful. 

Another, to me, fascinating store was rilled with rugs made 
from the skins of native animals, and there were also large 
piles of the raw material so that one could select the skins and 
have a rug made to order. The prettiest, as well as the most 
fragile, are those made from the native ostrich and costing about 
$ 50 each. Next come those made from the necks of the vicuna, 
which are from $80 to $130 each ; they are fawn and white in 
color, and the hair is as soft as down. There are guanaco robes 
from $15 to $40, and grebe, fox, otter, and other skins for all 
sorts of prices. Two other stores were charming, and their con- 
tents beguiling, although hidden away on side streets and hard 
to find. They were for the sale of Paraguayan articles, among 
which is lace that looks like spider webs, and is called so 
(nancluti) in the Guarani tongue, made by the native women, 
who were taught by the Jesuit missionaries many years ago ; 
gold puzzle rings made of fine wires fitted together to make a 



128 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 

broad band ; bows and arrows, necklaces of guanaco toe-nails 
and of monkey's teeth ; specimens of rude pottery and bales of 
mate leaves, covered with skins, the hair on the outside ; bom- 
billas, a tube with a bulb at one end, and the bulb pierced with 
tiny holes to strain the mate herb from the tea as it is sucked 
up, and a seemingly endless variety of mate cups. Some of 
these latter were made of silver, but generally they are small 
gourds, with a piece of the stem left on for a handle. Some 
are allowed to retain their natural color, others are dyed red 
and a pattern engraved upon them, but the majority are dyed 
black and left plain. The carving on some is very elaborate. 
Some are mounted on stands of silver and elaborately bound 
and decorated with the same precious metal. Occasionally the 
fruit is tied while prowinsf and made to assume all sorts of 
shapes. A small round hole is cut in one side to clean out the 
seeds, and also for the introduction of the bombilla. These 
bombillas are generally made of silver or tin, but I secured a 
few of Indian make, bamboo tube with basket-work bulbs, and 
in Cordoba we got from the nuns some dainty ones of decorated 
bamboo tubes and white horsehair strainers. 

Mate, generally called Paraguayan tea, is made from the leaf 
of a small tree of the holly species — ilex Paraguay -ensis — which 
flourishes in parts of Paraguay. The leaves are gathered, pre- 
pared, and then carefully packed in fresh hide bags, which con- 
tract when drying and make a package as hard as a stone. It 



ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 129 

is a yellowish green in color, and a teaspoonful of mate powder 
is put into the gourd, a small lump of sugar also if you like it, 
and then the cup is filled with boiling water, the bombilla in- 
serted, and the infusion sucked through it. Fully three-fourths 
of the natives of Uruguay and the Argentine drink mate, and 
the quantity they consume is astonishing. A silversmith in the 
town of Paysandu told me he only drank thirty to fifty cups in 
a day, and I have often seen a dozen emptied one after the 
other, and the cup sent out for more. Officers and soldiers 
standing at the barrack doors are drinking mate, and there is 
generally a gourd passing among the guard at the palace. 
Women and girls run to the door to see something pass, or 
stand there talking, with the inevitable mate gourd in one hand. 
In small stores a man will imbibe mate while attending to your 
wants. In short, you see it used everywhere except in the 
houses of fashionable people in the cities, where it is no longer 
stylish to drink it, tea having taken its place. I have often 
tasted it, as it is the universal custom to offer some refreshment 
to callers, and when mate was passed of course we partook. It 
tastes like weak green tea, and would not 'be disagreeable were 
it not that in a group of people only one gourd and one bombilla 
is used, being passed to each person in turn, and one has to put 
in their mouth the unwiped end of a metal tube that has been 
in more or less mouths present. 

There are several markets about town, and they are always 

9 



130 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAE. 

well filled. Vegetables are plenty, but expensive ; meat cheap 
and poor. It does not seem to have been properly bled, and is 
very lean. It is also sold too soon after being killed. In the 
morning there are plenty of fish, which are brought from 
Montevideo. Fruit is scarce, and, like everything else, expen- 
sive. 



XVII. 

OBJECTS OF INTEREST IN THE SUBURBS OF 
BUENOS AYRES. 

CURIOUS BURIAL CUSTOMS — THE NAVAL ACADEMY — THE 
PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THEIR AMERICAN TEACHERS— PA- 
LERMO PARK AND ZOOLOGICAL GARDEN. 

There is an old, aristocratic burial-ground in Buenos Ayres, 
which is called Recoleta, and within its boundaries rests the 
dust of Lavalle, Brown, and Alvear, with many another of their 
famous generals, admirals, and Brazilian patriots. It is quite at 
one side of the city, and was doubtless entirely in the country 
when first consecrated, but now the broad new avenues reach out 
to it, and only the large park, which begins just here, keeps it from 
being surrounded by bricks and mortar other than of its own 
choosing, for a high brick wall shuts it in from the traffic of the 
street, and a high, wide gate of iron bars forms the only entrance. 
Inside, and to the left of the gate, is an office, in which sits a 
clerk behind a table waiting for customers. On the right is a bare, 
cheerless little chapel, with an altar, before which stood the two 



132 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 

black carpenter's horses to rest a coffin on. A priest in his long 
black cassock sat reading a book with a most demure and 
proper-looking cover, so I fancy it was a book of prayers. Every- 
thing appeared so ready, all was so prepared, that one involun- 
tarily looked out into the street to see if a funeral procession 
was not approaching. Passing on, the visitor enters a labyrinth 
of narrow walks — for here space means money — on either side 
of which are tombs and monuments of every conceivable size, 
shape, and design. Different colored stones are used, and occa- 
sionally a full-length statue varies the monotony. Some are 
cheap and tawdry, others, and by far the greater number, beau- 
tiful. The favorite plan seemed to be to buy a plot, about eight 
or more feet square, build over it the prettiest chapel of marble 
one can afford, excavate the earth along way down like a square 
well, concrete this, and fasten strong iron brackets into the wall 
on each side every few feet, these brackets serving to hold the 
coffins. An altar is built in the chapel, and in front of it, in 
the floor, is an open grating, which is raised to admit the coffins, 
and through which they can be plainly seen. In some of the 
oldest ones the vault below is full, and coffins have been placed 
on brackets about the chapel walls. The entrance to nearly all 
the chapel tombs is an iron grated gate with glass doors inside, 
the glass doors being always set ajar or left wide open for ven- 
tilation. One imagines all sorts of odors, and as all sorts of dis- 
eases are buried there it is to be hoped that the coffins are 



ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 133 

hermetically sealed. There are many wreaths of flowers on 
coffins and in the chapels ; some made of immortelles, others of 
beads, but the majority of natural beauties. There are fountains 
and evergreen trees to brighten things up, while about some of 
the very oldest graves there is a bit of bright green turf, the 
body having been laid at rest in Mother Earth in the usual way 
—a flat slab on top, and around it all an iron railing. 

On one side of the grave-yard stands the poor-house, a large 
handsome building, with a lovely garden full of flowers about 
it. I always wonder when I see such beautiful things about 
charitable institutions if the poor inmates are allowed to enjoy 
them, or if they are for show. As I said before, just here 
begins the park, called Recoleta, after the cemetery. It is 
long, narrow, well laid out, and pleasing. Perhaps a little 
too much imitation petrified wood, which makes bridges, 
lies about like fallen trunks for benches, and forms a grotto, 
and appears everywhere, but the grass is so green, the 
trees, flowers, shrubs, and running water so pretty, that one 
is charmed with the place. 

At the foot of the grotto is a pond with lovely ducks of 
varied plumage swimming about in it, and, just beyond, benches 
whence one sees out into the yellow expanse of river water, 
with ships passing to and fro ; there is a nice carriage drive 
throughout its whole length, which in the afternoon is 
thronged with fine turnouts. 



134 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 

Near the southern end, on the Avenida Alvear, was the 
naval school, modeled somewhat after ours, by Gen. Domingo 
Sarmiento, who represented his country at Washington for 
a while, admired many of our institutions immensely, and 
later, when he was President, introduced many of them to 
his own people. 

The naval academy has lately been moved more than 200 
miles up the Parana River to a place which, when compared 
to the Avenida Alvear, is a howling wilderness. Our public 
schools were especially interesting to Gen. Sarmiento, and he 
brought out teachers from the States to preside over them, 
and as the system spreads a few more are added every year. 
They are well paid and looked after, being under the protec- 
tion of the government; but the standard is high, only the 
best are taken, and the work is hard, besides the fact that 
to accept a position means living here away from one's friends 
and country. Teaching is carried on principally in Spanish. 
English is only a branch, so the teachers must speak the 
language like natives. They are a fine body of women, and 
we met some charming ones. The first ones married so soon 
after their arrival that the government began to be discouraged, 
and they are still in demand ; for the vara avis, a woman who 
can make her own living, order her life and household so that, 
although she live alone, not a breath of scandal touches 
her, is admired and desired, yet it is difficult for the people 



ALONG SHORE WITH ui MAN-OF-WAR. 135 

to believe their daughters could do the same. Occasionally 
the o-overnment shows its appreciation of their work in a 
manner that must be gratifying. For instance, the Roman 
Catholic is the established church, yet when the Papal legate 
interfered unwarrantably with the management of a school 
under a Miss Armstrong, and both appealed to headquarters, 
he was given twenty-four hours to leave the country in, and 
left. This is the story as I several times heard it related, 
and the sister of the young woman afterward told me, at my 
request, the tale, and it did not differ materially. Passing 
along the streets in the afternoon you see children pouring 
out of the graded school buildings even as they do at home, 
and it warms your heart to see them and think what strides 
this country will make once these children come of age, the 
boys to force free votes and a true republic, the girls to aid. 
them by making them intelligent companions and forming- 
in their nurseries the minds and manners of their children. 
They use the kindergarten as well as the graded and normal 
systems. In small villages there is always a school, and while 
I have heard foreigners speak slightingly of these outposts, 
they always struck me as quite as good as any I saw in 
Germany, better, in fact, because they are free. 

The large city park is called Palermo, and lies in one of the 
suburbs, its official name being, I believe, Third of February, 
but as it is never called so it does not count. It is reached 



13G ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 

by carriage, horse-cars, or the Tigre railroad. We went out 
the second way, taking a train at the Plaza Victoria, which, 
after passing through the city and way out into the suburbs, 
stopped before a large gateway, inside of which another car 
was waiting to take passengers to the military school which 
is in the grounds. We entered and had a regular John 
Gilpin ride for about fifteen minutes. 

There was a track to run on, but the driver preferred the 
pavement, so we rattled and jounced, the windows rattled and 
shook, while one of the male passengers tried to hold the floor- 
grating in place, which task kept him busy. The end of the 
route was reached with all our teeth in our heads, but we had 
not enjoyed the scenery. We saw the low, white buildings of 
the military school at one side and walked on past it into the 
grove of trees and along the neat gravel paths. There are 
about fifty acres in all, perfectly flat, with trees and flowers 
planted in numbers, and the former chiefly eucalyptus, the only 
notable exception being the rows of palms beside the main 
drive. 

There is an extensive zoological garden with many good 
specimens of lamas, condors, monkeys, leopards, and any 
quantity of ducks, as well as a pen and tank filled with car- 
pinchos, an animal that looks to me like a cross between a pig 
and an otter. They live along the banks of ' rivers in this 
country, spending a great deal of time in the water, and are 



ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 137 

killed and eaten by the natives, the flesh of the young ones 
being said to taste like pork. They have the shortest kind of 
a tail, waddle when walking, and are covered with brownish 
gray bristles. 

A stream of water is led about through the park, and, in 
addition to the ducks which live in the ponds, many wild ones 
alight daily to feed. Pretty little bridges cross the stream, and 
there are seats and pavilions all about. A band plays on 
Thursday and Sunday afternoons, when the grand drive is sure 
to be crowded with handsome carriages filled with the fashion- 
ables of the city, and drawn by splendid horses, most of them 
imported. This park was another of Sarmiento's ideas. 



XVIII. 

THE CITY OF LA PLATA. 

ITS SPLENDID BANKS, MUSEUM, PARK, AND PUBLIC BUILDINGS — 
HOW IT WAS PROPOSED TO MAKE A SEAPORT OUT OF AN 

INLAND VILLAGE— GREAT CALCULATIONS ON THE FUTURE 

SUBURBS OF BELGRANO AND TIGRE. 

There are a great many large plazas in Buenos Ayres and 
most of them well cared for. The city spreads out over an 
immense amount of ground, thanks to the one-storied houses, 
and in riding about on the various street-car lines one is often 
surprised by pretty plazas, and also surprised by the lack of 
knowledge as to their names and extent on the part of the 
other people in the car. They are all willing and almost 
anxious to discuss the question and help you, but they cannot. 
Victoria I have already attempted to describe. San Martin, at 
the northern end of Florida Street, has a colossal statue in 
bronze of Gen. San Martin on horseback, and a great many 
lovely flowers, as well as odd-looking trees and shrubs. It is 



ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 139 

surrounded by a wide avenue, and here, in the afternoon, 
troops from the neighboring barracks come out to drill, the 
dark, swarthy faces of the men, who seem mostly Indians and 
negroes, the white faces of the officers, the full, baggy breeches 
of the men, and the strange music of the band, all being very 
attractive. As they moved, the undulating lines reminded me 
strongly of the Italian Bersaglieri, but the step is different — 
one foot seems put down with more force than the other. They 
seemed well-armed and equipped, but must have been ineffi- 
ciently or badly drilled, keeping front badly and failing in 
detail. 

Plaza Constitucion is unusually large, and here there are 
always a greater or less number of .large country bullock-carts, 
like our old prairie wagons, only these have much larger wheels 
so as to lift the body higher out of the mud, and the majority 
have only two wheels. Blue seems to be the favorite color to 
paint the wagon bodies, and the roof, instead of being even with 
the ends of the body, projects slightly before and behind. They 
are drawn by from three to six yoke of large oxen, with the 
cruel way of fastening them that is prevalent in these coun- 
tries. Instead of a yoke they take a heavy beam of wood, lay it 
just behind the horns of the two animals, tie the horns firmly 
to the end and lash the center to the pole, so they draw entirely 
by their horns. The weight brings their heads about down to 
their knees, and their starting eyeballs and the expression on 



140 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 

their poor faces show they are ia torture. Finally I declined 
to look at them in their trouble and looked away when I saw a 
cart coming. The drivers are generally men from the interior, 
and they bring in cattle and nutria skins and all sorts of country 
produce. 

There is a large number of newspapers published in the city, 
and there is a beautiful illustrated paper also, but none of their 
dailies pleased me as much as El Sigh, of Montevideo, which 
was most ably edited. The news came high, as papers were 
dear, but they did not copy one another as our papers in the 
States are apt to do, and you found all the news in their 
columns. On the Plaza Constitucion is a large railway station, 
and here, one lovely day, we took a train for the city of La 
Plata. 

When Buenos Ayres was finally chosen as the seat of the 
general government, the province of Buenos Ayres selected a 
site, about twenty-five miles to the south, and here in the fields 
they laid out a city to be called La Plata. The railway to it 
passes over a flat but fertile plain, with cultivated fields and 
many houses, and occasionally we halted at thrifty-looking 
little villages, with the usual number of eucalyptus trees 
about them. There were birds singing in the hedges, and 
cattle and native ostriches feeding in the fields. Altogether it 
was a flat, smiling, prosperous-looking bit of country. Arrived 
at our destination, we alighted in a large, splendid, almost 



ALONG SHOBE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 141 

finished station, built, as is everything else in this city, with 
two eyes to the future. Millions of money have been spent, 
and all that now is needed is people to live in the houses and 
throng the streets. They are coming, but very slowly. The 
streets are broad, straight, and well-paved, as are also the side- 
walks. There are several fine government buildings, and to 
each is allotted a whole square, the building being set in the 
center, and the remaining space laid out as a garden, filled with 
flowers and fountains, so that each building has a lovely 
setting. 

The Banco de la Provincia and the Banco Hipotecario sur- 
pass any bank buildings that I ever saw or heard of. They are 
like palaces. Each one stands in the center of a city square, and, 
like the government buildings, is several stories high, of gray 
stone, with fine, grand entrances, and the grounds about them 
beautifully laid out, with drives, walks, statues, flowers, and 
shrubs. On the side of the city toward the river, which is nine 
miles off, a grand park is laid out, and hundreds of eucalyptus 
trees have been planted and are flourishing, but it needs more 
care than it gets. In the park is the museum building, and it 
will be a fine one when completed. There is a curving drive 
guiding one up to the fine flight of steps below the entrance 
door, and passing the latter you find yourself in a large, circular 
hall, ornamented with frescoes, which seemed to me to be hor- 
rible daubs, artistically considered, yet they were interesting 



142 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 

because they represented scenes from the life of the aborigines. 
In one, a number of people with fewer clothes than ballet dan- 
cers, were cutting up and eating a mammoth turtle ; in another 
they were throwing the lasso, and in the third, these sons of 
the soil are threading a trackless forest. Two halls were in 
order, one containing the collection of fossils, for which this 
museum of the province of Buenos Ayres is famous through 
all the world, and the other hall showing a fine collection of 
ancient Peruvian pottery. Passing through the park and keep- 
ing on toward the river, one comes to the little village of 
Ensenada. It is six miles inland, but a grand scheme is on 
foot to build a system of docks and dikes to make this a river 
port. A large part of the work is done, and if the money sup- 
plies do not give out, it will in time be accomplished. Small 
trading vessels can now come up as far as Ensenada through a 
canal, while large ships come alongside the docks several miles 
down. The work is in charge of Dutchmen, and is being much 
better done than at Buenos Ayres in the Boca. A railroad to 
Buenos Ayres leads right down to the entire length of the 
proposed improvements. The village is now a dusty, dirty, 
uninteresting little place to the ordinary tourist. 

There is a street-railway service in La Plata, and hacks are 
plenty and cheap. They have gas, electric-lights, and, in short, 
it is a city of to-day. There are several pretty suburbs to 
Buenos Ayres, but Belgrano was my favorite ; the flowers, 



ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 143 

trees, and qaintas — country houses — being especially pretty, 
while there was also an attractive, sloping park, mostly of 
green-sward, between the town and railway station, with a nice 
large ombu tree to sit under, and enjoy the country air and view. 
The ombu is a native of this part of the world, and belongs to 
the fig family. It grows to a fine height and the branches give 
a dense shade, under which no insect cares to dwell. The 
trunk always looked to me too large in proportion for beauty, 
but its most striking peculiarity is the big bunch of roots at 
the base of the trunk showing above the ground. 

Tigre is a favorite summer resort with many, and it has nu- 
merous waterways about it like canals, which are the southern 
mouths of the Parana delta. It is- pleasant pulling about upon 
them, the low dividing islands being filled with fruit trees, 
especially peach and pear. Every here and there a house 
nestles among the trees, making a pretty picture, or you pass a 
float and boathouse, all the boat clubs of the city having quar- 
ters here. There is also the national navy-yard, and some tor- 
pedo-boats and small craft were laid up alongside the bank. It 
is difficult to imagine how anything of much draft could be 
gotten out if needed, unless they made a long trip up this branch 
of the Parana to San Pedro, and then came down the main 
branch. Tigre gets its name from the capture there of a South 
American leopard, which the natives call a tiger. It probably 
came down the river on one of the many floating islands, and 



144 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAB. 

must have made a long journey. When we went ashore to ex- 
plore one of these islands the mosquitoes were so numerous and 
hungry that we returned to our boat and to Buenos Ayres 
dinnerless, but having furnished dinner to many hungry 
hummers. 



XIX. 

UP THE URUGUAY RIVER— CITY OF COLONIA. 

A MEMORABLE CHRISTMAS THE HEROIC THIRTY-THREE 

WHERE THE EIRST BLOW FOR INDEPENDENCE WAS 
STRUCK — THE LIEBIG EXTRACT HEAD-QUARTERS — PICT- 
URESQUE COSTUMES. 

On the Uruguay bank of the river of the same name is the 

ancient and pretty little town of Colonia. It is built on a 

point stretching out into the river and is near the junction of 

the Parana and Uruguay, which unite to form the Rio de la 

Plata — or " The Platte," as Englishmen persist in calling it — 

some eighty or ninety miles above Montevideo. It was one of 

the first forts, and was held alternately by the Portuguese and 

Spanish in colonial days, being a bone of contention because of 

its situation and the large settlements of Indians near at hand. 

As seen from the river it looks very gray and quite large, the 

two more prominent objects being the church with two towers 

10 



146 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 

and a round dome and a round windmill that looks as if it had 
drifted down here from Holland and felt lonely and forlorn. 

Christmas day ! and a lovelier one never dawned, as far as 
nature was concerned, than that which greeted us one year 
not long ago, in the little town of Colonia del Sacramento, 
which lay smiling in the sunshine ; the fair, green country 
.stretched away on either side, and a faint, soft, northern 
"breeze rippled the water, idly flapped the sails of an anchored 
schooner, and, farther out, lifted the pennant and fluttered the 
folds of the ensign on one of Uncle Sam's men-of-war that 
looked as bright as paint and care could make her. At the 
wharf lay a little passenger steamer that in the morning had 
come over from Buenos Ayres ; about noon she got up steam 
for the return trip, and soon after, three young men came 
down the narrow, crooked old street that widened where 
it reached the police barracks, until there was quite a little 
plaza between them, the hotel and the head of the wharf. 
One of the men turned into the police barracks, the other 
two kept on until they reached a watchman's hut at the 
shore end of the wharf, behind which thej^ placed them- 
selves and carefully watched the plaza. There were a good 
many people in the hotel, dining ; while a few came straying 
down the street and went on board the steamer. 

Finally, as it was nearing time for the steamer to leave, 
two men appeared upon the scene. One glanced about 



ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 147 

rather apprehensively, for he knew that he had ruined the 
daughter of the Jefe Politico, some two years before and 
then refused to marry her, taking refuge and marrying in 
the neighboring republic. Her father followed him to the 
Argentine at the time, seeking his life, and could not find 
him, but left word that he must keep out of Uruguay or take 
the consequences. He had ventured over, because he knew 
the Jefe was in Montevideo, but he forgot the sons, yet they 
were there, and, when they saw him coming, advanced, and 
firing began ; for a few minutes the four men were rushing 
about the open space, then the betrayer fell, and his brother- 
in-law was chased into a little butcher-shop and finished. 
Then the firing ceased, and the police sallying out gathered 
up two dead men, two badly wounded men, four pistols, and 
a sword cane ; but they could not gather up the blood which 
was in spots all over the pavement, sidewalks, and houses. 
The people gathered as if by magic, as soon as the firing 
ceased, for one soon learns to seek shelter in South America, 
when one hears shots in the street ; and then the tumult 
began. The two wounded boys, eighteen and twenty-four 
years of age, were behind the barred archway of the police 
quarters with their brother, who passed in there as they first 
came down. These boys seem to have been rather wild, 
and the father was said to be then in Montevideo explain- 
ing something they had written ; anyway, in spite of the 



148 ALONGSHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 

stain on their honor that they had wiped out, they were 
intensely unpopular, and the people wanted their blood, seem- 
ing entirely reckless as to how much of their own was spilt 
in getting that for which they thirsted. 

Uruguay is divided into provinces, and the chief civil offi- 
cers, who are appointed by the president, and represent him, 
are called Jefe Politicos, political chiefs, the Constitution pro- 
viding that they shall not be military men. Under them is 
a Primero Official, first official, who acts in their absence ; 
hence the first officer took charge in Colonia and proceeded 
to act. He had only twelve police, and in answer to his 
telegrams for help sent to Montevideo, he was told to do 
the best he could. Twelve police to guard two wounded 
boys and prevent a revolution in the town by calming the 
excited populace who were collecting in groups, painting red 
daggers on doors and talking excitedly. The brother-in- 
law who was murdered because he happened to be with the 
betrayer, was much liked and numerously related. He had 
lived in the country, but wishing educational advantages for 
his eight children, he had just moved into town and opened 
a small shop, where he lived with his family, as well as 
the helpless mother of his wife, and his death seemed with- 
out excuse. In a couple of hours we saw two cheap cof- 
fins carried down the street and taken into the police bar- 
racks, soon they were brought out with the bodies in them, 



ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 149 

which must have been stripped, as beside each coffin walked 
a man with a hat and a bundle of bloody clothes. I was 
told that their throats had been cut, and had grown so 
used to tales of cutting throats of dead people and prisoners 
that I see no reason to doubt it. A crowd followed the 
bodies to the little shop where the widow and children were 
waiting, and by this time the first officer, who was thoroughly 
frightened and longing for help, bethought him of the man- 
of-war in the harbor. He appealed to the Captain for armed 
men to prevent riot and bloodshed and aid him in protect- 
ing his prisoners as well as the lives of innocent people 
who would be killed. 

He was advised by the Captain not to call for aid unless 
he positively needed it, but seeing his position and hearing 
the people talk, it was impossible not to agree as to the 
gravity of the situation, and as he insisted, some of our 
marines, prepared for business, were put in boats and taken 
to the shore, but not allowed to land until the Captain had 
once more seen the official, and urged him to make an appeal 
the better class of people to aid him and try and do with- 
out external assistance. 

Finally, he said the men could go back, and that if there 
was immediate danger he would make a signal by firing a 
gun and hoisting a lantern, then he would need help and 
was assured that he should have it. Twilight came and 



150 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 

went, and the stars came out, making a glorious Christmas night, 
but still the little town was troubled, some three hundred men 
gathered in a hall and declined to separate or help the First 
Official, his prisoners were unpopular and he could not get 
anyone to forego the pleasures of a revolution hy helping 
him to avert it. At last he saw no other course open to 
him, and at nine o'clock he made the signal for help. All 
was quiet on the ship, the men were in their hammocks 
and the officers grouped on deck or in the ward-room, 
talking of the day ashore ; but in a moment all was activity, 
the marines jumped into their clothing, and receiving ammu- 
tion and rations, took their places in the boats that had 
been manned and brought alongside; fifteen minutes past 
nine and they shoved off from the ship. Twenty-five men 
and an officer landed at the wharf, formed and marched 
through the crowd to the police barracks' gate, turned in 
and vanished from the following gaze of the crowd, but 
their appearance, bearing and business air, had been marked, 
the crowd knew they were there, and it made a nest of 
hornets that they did not care to disturb, so without any 
orders or warnings, group after group dissolved and went 
home, the grand meeting dispersed and all slept but those 
on guard — so passed the birthday of the Prince of Peace. 
The next morning the dead men were buried and some 
violent talk was indulged in over the remains, but the 



ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 151 

knowledge of an obstinate fight, if a row was begun or the 
barracks attacked, cooled their ardor effectually, and when 
in the afternoon a little Uruguayan man-of-war came gliding 
into port, all was calm on the surface ; but soldiers were 
landed and the place put under martial law, the President 
having deposed the old Jefe Politico, and contrary to law, 
having appointed a military man in his place, who came 
up on the vessel. Our marines returned aboard and peace 
was gradually restored, but a number of cow-boys and hard 
characters came into the town the next day in hopes of 
finding a pretty row on hand from which they could pluck 
some advantage. 

The town now has about 2,000 inhabitants and seems a thriv- 
ing, happy, quiet place. There are some curious old street* 
with worn pavements, high side-walks, and crumbling houses,, 
with stone benches along the fronts, on which Spaniards and 
Portuguese have lounged, feasting their triumphs, and quarrel- 
ing over defeats before our century was begun. Here the houses 
are low and set close to the street, the windows and doors 
uncommonly small and protected by heavy wooden shutters, the 
interiors dark, smoke-stained, and irregular, contrasting forcibly 
with the gardens at the rear, full of bright flowers and sunshine. 

In the new part of the town the principal streets are General 
Flores and the Eighteenth of July. These are broad, well 
paved, and laid out in straight lines, the houses and shops along 



152 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 

them shining with fresh paint. There is a large plaza, carefully 
graveled, with benches and some tiny trees set around the sides. 
This is quite a new plaza and arranged in the latest Monte- 
videan fashion, but I liked the little, old grass-grown one beside 
the church much better. Just on the outskirts of the village is 
the bull-ring, and we investigated it thoroughly when empty, 
but never happened to be there during the season, which is in 
summer. Bull fights are not allowed in the Argentine, but 
they are in Uruguay, so, as Buenos Aj^res is only thirty miles 
away, across the river, some capitalists built the ring at Colonia, 
run a steamer over for the fights, and thus the native of Ar- 
gentine can easily satisfy his longings for a bloody fight. 

About half a mile beyond was the cemetery, and near that 
the beach where one can still gather bola stones left there by 
the Indians, for here was their largest village of all those near 
the colony. The views of the surrounding country are lovely, 
rolling, undulating fields of rich green clover, with cactus 
hedges and cattle roaming about, seemingly at will ; here and 
there a clump of trees and under them the gleam of the white 
house of some estanciero. Then comes the broad river with its 
many islands, some of the latter forming the harbor, as there is 
no curve to the shore, only a straight stretch of green bank, 
which leads you on, up past Martin Garcia flats, which are 
always bestrewn with wrecks and vessels aground, and so on 
up the Uruguay river. 



ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 153 

The Uruguay is a magnificent river, which rises in Brazil, 
sweeps around in a colossal curve on its way to the ocean, and 
so curving forms the western boundary of Uruguay, separating 
it from the Argentine province of Entre Rios. Broad and deep, 
with low banks on either side, and some low islands in it, the 
river is an ideal highway for commerce, but it is not pictur- 
esque. Miles of low, marsh-like banks, covered with coarse grass 
and gnarled, stunted trees, among which live snakes, leopards, 
and carpinchos ; here and there the hut of a wood-gatherer in a 
tiny clearing, its mud walls and roof of brown thatch seeming 
to melt into the natural tints of its surroundings until it is 
scarcely visible ; here and there a long stretch of green meadow, 
a low bluff, or a view of rolling country, relieves the monotony ; 
but always, everywhere, herds of horned cattle, horses, and 
sheep grazing and wandering about. This is what you see day 
after day, except the small pretty towns on the banks. Below 
Paysandu they are all, with one exception, on the Uruguay side 
of the river, that bank being the highest, and they are generally 
built on a point that stretches out into the river or on a low bluff. 
Carmelita is on a point, and next above is Nueva Palmyra, fa- 
mous as the place near which thirty-and-three Orientales landed 
and raised the standard of revolt, thus beginning the war which 
ended in the liberation of their native Uruguay from the yoke 
of Brazil. The thirty-three are worshipped as heroes, almost 
as saints, and an old man who sometimes came to the hotel in 



154 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 

Montevideo to play billiards with friends was pointed out to me 
as most admirable and worthy of note, because he fought under 
the thirty-three. He had snow-white hair and a fine, intellect- 
ual face. The thirty-three made their plans and arrangements 
in the Argentine province of Entre Rios, and crossing the river, 
landed on a sandy beach just above Nueva Palmyra. The exact 
spot is marked by a low, white monument, which is soon to be 
surrounded by a park, the government having accepted the 
adjacent land for that purpose. Fray Bentos and Independencia 
are built on two points with only a curving beach between, In- 
dependencia being a regular town and Fray Bentos consisting 
solely of the great Liebig extract-of-beef factory, buildings de- 
pendent on it, and cottages for the workmen. At the wharf 
lay four large foreign barks and a small Uruguayan steamer, 
all taking in cargoes. 

The highest town we could go to was the large one of Pay- 
sandu, and here we stopped for some time. It is built on 
ground which slopes gradually toward the river, and the houses 
look like orchestra chairs as viewed from the stage, the stage in 
this case being the broad river, while at the farther end of the 
main aisle or street stands the cathedral. Paysandu is a thriv- 
ing place, with a good deal of commerce in hides, skins, and 
beef tongues, and is soon to be connected by rail with Monte- 
video. The firm of merchants doing the most business, and hav- 
ing the only fine large warehouses in the place, is that of Huf- 



ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 155 

nagel & Plottier, the elder member being' an American, one of 
our citizens, and also our vice-consul. The city was a favorite 
lighting ground during the frequent revolutions that formerly 
swept over the country, and some brave fighting has been done 
there, one of its defenses being celebrated in prose and poetry. 
The streets are ill-paved, but the sidewalks are good and the 
houses also, having pretty inner courts and gardens filled with 
plants and fruit trees. Some of the streets have orange trees 
planted along the curbs, and they look very pretty with the 
ripe fruit and flowers on them. The cathedral is a large, fine 
one, with two towers in front and a dome over the high altar. 
Its proportions are good, and the interior, with its simple 
decorations, admirable. On the occasion of our first visit there 
were several women moving about, pinning large bows of ribbon 
on the clean white altar-cloths, placing immense bunches of 
sweet natural flowers everywhere, preparing for Sunday, which 
was the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. Several stores are 
for the sale of fine silver ornaments for saddles and bridles, they 
being made in Paysandu, the silver hammered into beautiful 
shapes and designs by the intelligent workmen, the whip 
handles, knife-sheaths, and saddle-yokes being especially ornate 
and good. Most of the men dress in the modern guaclio, or 
cow-boy style, that is, some kind of a low, soft hat, flannel shirt 
and poncho, a broad belt, pair of very full trousers, plaited in at 
the waist and around the ankles, the costume finished off by a 



156 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 

pair of low boots or canvas shoes with rope soles, — such as are 
used at home for bathing shoes, — the latter seeming* to be great 
favorites. These suits are quite picturesque and said to be 
especially comfortable for horseback. One day we drove about 
five miles in the country to visit the estancia of one Senor Mon- 
grell, a native. The road was broad and poor, the sides of it 
bright with red verbena blossoms, that, plant being a native of 
the country : now and then we drove through a little brook, 
and passed the corner of the estancia of the Spanish consul, 
which is sixty-three square miles in extent, and given up 
entirely to grazing. The rich green fields are everywhere 
separated by smooth wire fences, barbed wire being tabooed in 
all these countries as a barbarous, cruel invention ; and in the 
fields were grazing a great many horses and cattle, as well as 
some of the small native ostriches. Mongrell's estancia is given 
over to raising } r oung from imported cattle, to sell to other es- 
tancieros and improving his own stock. He had some fine 
English and French stallions and mares, each in a big box- 
stall. Some fine Durham and Holstein bulls and cows, and 
quite a flock of merino sheep. The latter came from Vermont. 
The house was a low adobe one, and faced on three sides of a 
court. The center was the residence, and the wings for offices 
and kitchens. There was a broad piazza to the residence, and 
we sat there some time, talking to the pretty seiiora and her 
children, the senor having unfortunately gone to a neighbor's, 



ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 157 

so we missed him. Several neighbors rode up as we sat there, 
and mate - was passed. As we drove back the country looked 
lovely in the afternoon sunlight, and we later enjoyed a dinner 
in Mr. Hufnagel's roomy patio, under the budding grape-vines, 
surrounded by flowers, and the moon so bright that the lamp 
was superfluous. 



XX. 

PAYSANDU AND THE CAPITAL OF ENTRE RIOS. 

REMINISCENCES OF THE TYRANT ITRQUIZA HIS ALTAR IN 

THE CATHEDRAL THE SPLENDID UNIVERSITY AT CONCEP- 

CION AN AMERICAN GIRL'S KINDERGARTEN. 

Our next visit to Paysandu was made a year later, and we 
found the town looking much the same as it did the year 
before, only this time we came in the season when balls and 
operas were the order of the day. We went to a ball given by 
a Club, and it was a most creditable affair. The rooms were 
good-sized, well-decorated, the music good, the supper the 
same, and the very best families there to dance with. The 
only dances they have which are different from ours are a 
quadrille and the danza. In the quadrille every one stands 
up in two long lines, the music begins to play, and }^ou begin 
to bow — every few steps you bow, and in fact you cannot bow 
too often ; it is the essence of the dance. The danza is a 



ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 159 

round — well, not a round dance, but a round walk-around. 
The music is slow and pretty, with the sound of castanets 
in it. One takes two short steps to one side, turns half 
around, and then takes two steps in another direction, keep- 
ing it up any length of time, and dancing it without any 
trouble. The opera-house is large, fairly well appointed, 
and would be comfortable if these people would only once 
acknowledge that they have a winter and prepare for it. Then 
they would close up some of the cracks in the partitions, shut 
the doors, and warm the place. As it is, we sat in our heaviest 
wraps, with shawls over our knees, and heard " Faust " and 
*' Ernani " very well sung. The set for the garden scene for 
*' Faust " was a patio with a tiled cistern in the center, and 
all the plants set out in tubs and kerosene cans, which un- 
doubtedly struck the native as quite the proper thing, and it 
did not look badly. 

The only town on the right bank of the Uruguay is ten 
miles below Paysandu and is called Concepcion del Uruguay, 
for two reasons : firstly, because it is popularly supposed to be 
on the river, and, secondly, to distinguish it from another Con- 
cepcion in the Argentine Republic. The city used to have a 
good port, and as it was the capital of the province of Entre 
Rios, had a good deal of trade, but an island formed in front 
of it and has grown until now only the smallest trading ves- 
sels can make their way up the narrow, shallow channel to 



160 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 

the wharves, and everything of any size must anchor in the 
river some three miles away. 

A railway has been built from Parana, on the Parana River, 
the new capital of the province, to this city, and the railway 
company, has run a long mole and wharf away out to the 
recent deep anchorage. We landed at this, and the railway 
authorities kindly sent down a hand-car, which took us to the 
shore end of the mole, where a carriage was waiting. Just 
here there are two large brick buildings, one of them a custom- 
house and the other for the use of the captain of the port, 
and we went in to call on the last-named official. He was a 
pleasant man of the usual Spanish type in appearance, and 
the most conspicuous article on his writing-table was a big 
Colt's revolver, placed there, perhaps, as a compliment to 
the Norte Americanos. 

The roads are splendid and we drove quickly over one of 
them across the intervening plain, and were whirled into the 
town and up to the main plaza, where we alighted and began 
to explore. Entre Rios, like most of the other provinces when 
the Argentine was a confederation, and not a republic, as it is 
now, had its share of tyrants, but he who eclipsed them all was 
Gen. Jose Urquiza, shining second only in the infamous con- 
stellation to Juan Manuel Rosas, of Buenos Ayres, and being 
rivaled by Lopez, of Paraguay. Urquiza managed to get pos- 
session of most of the land in the province and lived like a czar* 



ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 161 

His grand palace was at San Jose, about ten miles from Con- 
cepcion, but on one side of the plaza Ave saw a large, fine house, 
known as his town palace, and it is by far the finest residence 
in the city. We caught a glimpse of a lovely patio through 
the open gate, but some of the family were living there, which 
prevented our going farther in. One side of the plaza was 
occupied by the cathedral and university, standing side by side. 
The latter is a famous institution, and had been established 
thirty-six years the 28th of this July. Youths from all this 
part of South America attend it, and it is so well endowed by 
the general government that even the poorest ambitious young 
man has a chance, for the charges are only ten nationals a 
year, and a small matriculation fee. The buildings are large 
and comfortable, the corps of professors numerous, and said to 
be excellent, while the regular and elective courses of study 
seem very comprehensive. They have a drill-room, gym- 
nasium, and good showing of apparatus in the chemistry de- 
partment. The museum has a fine collection of fossils, agates, 
and petrifactions gathered in the province, and is presided over 
by a most enthusiastic Frenchman, one of the professors. 

There are a great many schools in the city, and a normal 
college. At the latter is one of our countrywomen in charge 
of the kintergarten department. The cathedral is large, and 
the interior would be beautiful if the cheap, tawdry altars were 

eliminated. Only one has any claims to beauty : that belongs 

11 



162 ALONG SIIOUE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 

to the Urquiza family, and is to the left of the high altar. It 
is quite pretty with its many silver ornaments, and near it, in 
the wall, the tyrant is buried. A marble tablet over him bears 
an inscription which informs one that here lie the remains of 
Gen. Jose Urquiza, who was assassinated at his palace of San 
Jose at 7:30 in the evening, the 11th day of April, 1870, aged 
sixty-nine years, and that this tablet is erected to his memory 
by his sorrowing widow and children. If his fate had only 
, found him out about fifteen years earlier there would have been 
fewer widows and orphans in Entre Rios by several hundred, 
for his path was strewn with the corpses of those he hated, 
disliked, or could not bend to his will. 

The city is large and spreads a long distance out over the 
plain, but there is nothing of especial interest in it, and the 
only industry, besides teaching, is an aguardiente factory. The 
plaza is unusually large and was gay with flower-beds, besides 
having many good-sized trees, whose shade was refreshing, and 
underneath one was a tiny little beer garden, with just room 
for two tables. Besides the cathedral, university, and Urquiza 
palace, the penitentiary, Jefe Politico's building, theater, and 
the largest hotel in the place, all front on this plaza. We Avere 
driven out to see the railroad station, which is white and 
dazzling to the eyes, as it is quite new, and not a bit of green 
near it, and the sunshine pouring down upon it. 



XXI. 

UP THE RIVER URUGUAY. 
NUEVA PALMYRA. 

WEALTH OF LITTLE WORTH TO AN EXILE — A TYPICAL " FOBTT- 
XIKEE" — A SUBURBAN HORSE RACE — THE GIRL WHO 
PLAYED A WHOLE OPERA ON THE PIANO. 

On one of our trips up the River Uruguay, our anchor 
dropped just in front of the sleepy-looking little town of Nueva 
Palmyra. Three wharves jut out into the river from the 
stretch of sandy beach, and while they are all good to land at, 
the shore end of each dumps one in the sand, for the beach 
runs two or three streets back into the town, and these streets 
are less well provided with sidewalks than any others in the 
village. But once the hard ground is reached the walking is 
very pleasant, and the first day we wandered all about the 
streets. The ground slopes toward the river, and in a few 
places it is quite steep, so by pausing when we reached a 



164 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 

summit, every here and there, pretty views of broad river, fiat 
islands, and rolling country met and pleased the eye. The 
houses are the usual one-story brick affairs, covered with adobe, 
and relieved from perfect ugliness by the occasional trees in the 
front and blooming plants in the patios. Many of the trees 
were orange, and loaded with fruit and blossoms. The deathly 
stillness of the place was most disagreeable ; the ground was so 
soft that horses and people passed like specters ; only the 
barking of the dogs broke the pall-like silence. The main 
plaza is heavily shaded by pine as well as eucalyptus trees, the 
sod beneath them plentifully bestrewn with the red and yellow 
blossoms of wild oxalis, and there were several- seats near the 
paths. Resting awhile on one of them, we were first inter- 
viewed by the dogs, and there were any number of them, for 
the commonest sight in this part of the world is a bunch of 
dogs. Every inhabitant must own several. Some are well- 
bred, but the predominating canine is a small, intelligent, 
yellow cur. 

After the dogs had finished their inspection came the children, 
wonderfully pretty ones, too, and among them, a boy with an 
ideal Italian face and a lithe little figure. He was about six 
years old and hugged tight to his little breast a pair of big 
chickens, which he shyly confided to us he wanted to sell for 
thirty-five cents the pair, and when we took them he was too 
busy looking at us to count the money in his chubby little fist. 



ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 165 

I suppose he wondered what we wanted them for, and certainly 
they were an embarrassing acquisition until fortune favored us 
by sending a man along who was willing to take them to the 
gringo's boat. 

Facing the plaza were the usual police barracks, a drug-store, 
post-office, dwelling-houses, and church. The latter was the 
most forlorn building of the kind that I ever saw ; small, its 
bricks uncovered and chipped off, the tower just carried a few 
feet above the roof and abandoned. Doves circled above it and 
had their nest built in the places where the beams of the 
builder's scaffolding had left holes. The door stood wide open, 
and, entering, we finally made out in the obscurity a brick floor 
full of traps for unwary feet, a feAv wooden benches, three poor 
altars and a preaching pulpit draped in crocheted lace. Glass 
was lacking and the window spaces were covered with cloth, 
the consequence being that the darkness could almost be felt. 
Later we saw in the street a solitary priest, and for forlornness 
and shabbiness of aspect he matched the church. 

As is usual in Uruguay, there was excellent shooting all 
about the town, quail, doves, duck, and snipe abounding, and 
as a gentleman of English descent, and a true sport, placed him- 
self, his dogs, and lands at our disposal, we lived on game until 
we cried out " pas tou/jours de perdrix." His house was not 
far from town, so one Sunday afternoon we walked out there. 
Our way led us through the quiet little town, which looked as 



166 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 

usual ; but when we emerged on to the plain beyond it, we saw 
some thirty men mounted on the wiry, small horses of the coun- 
try watching with much interest a scrub race, which finished 
just as we joined a knot of men on foot, among whom were some 
of our friends. 

The winner was a pretty sorrel horse, and his owner, a lieu- 
tenant of police, was jubilant because he had made twenty 
dollars. This was evidently considered big stakes, and a pilot, 
who had come up with us, was much amused at having won 
twenty cents from a man who was very noisy and anxious to 
bet against the sorrel, but evidently cautious when it came to a 
practical backing of his opinion. Leaving them, we walked 
over the green slopes, which were cropped close by a large flock 
of sheep that were wandering about. 

Finally we turned into one of these bits of road, and at the 
farther end found a big swinging gate set in the wire fence. 
From this the road led us through the barnyard and orchard to 
the long house with thatched roof, where we were cordially wel- 
comed by our host, who always wears high boots, corduroys, a 
velvet coat and chimney-pot hat, the quiet, pleasant Senora 
Pepa, his wife, whom he has never allowed to learn English, 
and their fourteen dogs. The house had a long, low porch 
along the front, the floor of which was even with the outside 
ground, and, like those of the rooms, formed of badly-laid tiles. 
Everything was plain, and oh, so lacking in comfort ! I gazed 



ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 167 

in astonishment, for he has land in large tracts, the rent from 
some of them bringing him in $3,200 a year, and that alone 
would have given them comforts, but it was an illustration of 
how indifferent we become when isolated from our kind, and 
how easy it is to lapse into barbarism of life, if not of mind. 
His mind was bright and trained, he was well up in the doings 
and sayings of the world of to-day, but his house was behind his 
mind by several centuries. 

There was one United States citizen in the place, who claimed 
to have been a good deal of a rolling-stone, and the hirsute 
appearance of his head gave one the impression that he — con- 
trary to tradition — had gathered a good deal of moss. He said 
he was a " forty-niner," and left California to go to Chili and 
help Enrique Meiggs build railroads ; after that it was a short 
journey for him across the Andes to the Argentine, and here, as 
there were no obstacles on the level pampas to call a halt, the 
wind blew him clear across country to the river, and crossing 
that he landed in Uruguay, where he had prospered and soon 
intended returning to California to settle down. He had pecul- 
iar ideas on the subject of medicine ; thought gunpowder the 
great cure-all. I supposed he meant taken via a pistol barrel, 
but he did not ; he meant swallowed or rubbed in. 

As we go through life we gradually learn a great deal. I 
learned, by eating a bit of whale, that life was too short to 
spend in eating peculiar things simply to say 3^011 had done so ; 



168 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 

and in Nueva Palmyra I learned not to ask a girl to play the 
piano. I here asked a healthy girl of fourteen if she would not 
tocar a little, and she was so kind as to hammer away one hour 
and a half. She played an opera straight through with never a 
stop, and we thus unavoidably made a rather long call, espe- 
cially as our dinner was spoiling on board. 



XXII. 

FRAY BENTOS. 

LIEBIG's EXTRACT A GREAT URUGUAYAN INDUSTRY — HOMES 
OF THE WORKMEN THE PROCESS OF MANUFACTURE. 

The twin towns of Fray Bentos and Independencia, each built 
on a point that juts sharply out into Uruguay River, are quite 
pretty from a distance — the gray houses and green fields, the 
curving beach between, and back of the latter a road, dotted 
with houses its whole length. We went ashore at Independen- 
cia and found it like the usual river town — a good wharf, a 
number of short, unpaved streets, with here and there a stretch 
of flag or brick sidewalk, a few stores, the window of one or 
more rilled with silver ornaments for harness, whip-handles, and 
mate bombillas, many one-storied houses, more or less clean and 
more or less ornamented, according to the wealth of the owner. 
We quickly walked through it one cool autumn morning, 
stopping a few moments to enjoy the view of rolling country 
covered with green clover from the pretty plaza which lay just 



170 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 

at the top of a steep slope, and taking the road along the river 
soon reached Fray Bentos. 

Fray Bentos is quite a little town, and is entirely owned by 
the Liebig Company. All their extract of beef is made there, 
and the houses are occupied by their workmen. We passed 
several of these houses on our way to the main entrance of the 
works, and they looked cleanish and comfortable, with little 
flower-gardens in front and a cistern of adobe cdeamino- white 
among the flowers. Near the large gate was an office, and here 
we were received by Mr. Webster, the cashier, as it was too 
early for the superintendent, who arrives between 10 and 10: 30. 
Mr. Webster showed us the offices and then the long, large 
board-room. In the center was a long table with big chairs 
around it, that are used by the board when it meets. On two 
of the walls hung maps of four out of the five large estancias 
owned by the company and devoted to raising cattle for their 
factory. But large as they are, they cannot supply the demand, 
and great numbers have to be bought all over the country, they 
paying on an average from $10 to $12 a head for good beasts. 
One side of the room was lined from floor to ceilino- with book- 
shelves, and on them was a library for the benefit of the em- 
ploye's. At the farther end stood a large sideboard with speci- 
mens of the products of the factory, just as it was when placed 
in the last world's exhibition in Paris. There were two rows 
of different-sized jars filled with the extract that every one 



ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 171 

knows so well, a jar of tallow and another of dried beef in 
powder, and yet a third of bone dust, also tins of corned beef and 
of beef tongues. There was a large, fine room adjoining this, 
which is used by Mr. Crocker, an Englishman, the superinten- 
dent of the works. He has a nice house surrounded by pretty 
grounds, but he evidently deserves the place with all its 
emoluments, for everything seemed in excellent order, and as 
clean as possible wherever we went. 

Leaving this building, we entered the main yard, and first 
passed the meat-shop, where several animals are cut up and 
dealt out each day gratis to the workmen. Just beyond was a 
long, low shed, with a sloping floor, paved with flagstones. 
Blood stood between all the stones, and there were some men 
busy trying to wash it out with hose and water. We were just 
too late to see the killing, they having stopped two or three 
days before, for which I was truly thankful. We entered the 
shed, and at one end, mounting a few wooden steps, stood 
where the killing takes place. It was small, just about room 
enough for four men to stand, and in front of us was a small cir- 
cular stockade, and into this about a dozen cattle are driven at 
a time. The loop end of a rawhide lasso is dropped over the 
horns of one of the animals by a man on the platform. The 
other end is attached to the shaft of a small stationary engine, 
which revolves quickly and draws the struggling animal into 
the short passage and up to the feet of the butcher who, stoop- 



172 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 

ing over, with one blow of a short, heavy, dagger-shaped knife, 
severs the spinal cord just back of the head. The beast drops 
on to the floor of the passage, which is a flat car and runs on a 
track out into the open shed. Here the animal is rolled on to 
the stones, a man seizes it, disembowels, skins, and cuts it into 
quarters. These are the employes who make the most money. 
They are paid fifteen cents an animal, and make from $175 to 
$200 a month. The heads, hoofs, and horns are taken to the bone- 
dust factory, the quarters are hung on hooks on long racks near 
by and cut up, the best parts sent to the beef-extract house, 
the others to the corned-beef factory ; the tongues to still another 
building, where each one is split and canned ; the hair from 
the tails to still another building, where they are packed ia 
bales, and the hides to vats at the farther end of the shed, 
where they are pickled and tanned. 

The vats were full of hides in different stages, and after 
looking at them we went into the building where most of the 
beef is boiled in immense covered vats. When it is cooked all 
the broth is taken and carried to the extract-house, where it is 
mixed with the selected portions of the animal, like the tender- 
loin, which have been minced to a pulp in hash machines. No 
grease is present, as all the fat is cut off to make tallow. The 
pulp and broth are boiled in open tanks with steam radiators at 
the bottom. It is in each tank two hours and then passes to 
another. After boiling all day it is done, and is put up in 100- 



ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 173 

pound tins and sent by ship to Antwerp, where it is packed into 
the small jars that we are familiar with. They kill about six 
months in the year, beginning in December, and average 1,000 
animals a day, employ 300 men all the year and 700 in the kill- 
ing season. The workmen are mostly Italians and Basque 
Spaniards. We visited the other buildings, the engine-room, 
piles of coal, and wharves, at which lay several vessels loading ; 
but there was nothing unusual about them except their large 
size and the smells. There are more and stronger smells to the 
square inch in Fray Bentos than any place I ever visited. 
Cologne is not a patch on it ; they were varied and all awful. 
Even the pores of our skins seemed filled, and I walked the dock 
in a strong wind for several hours after bathing before I ceased 
to abhor myself. I should hardly care to work there even if 
wages are paid promptly. A house only costs from four dol- 
lars to five dollars a month, and even a stranger can buy a 
whole tenderloin for ten cents. The company was started with 
much difficulty — because no one would believe in it and buy 
stock — in 1865, has ever since been prosperous, and pays good 
dividends, besides all the lives the extract has saved. 

There are a good many colonies near the river and some are 
flourishing, notably the German one at Nueva-Berlin and a 
French one some three leagues from Colonia, but the govern- 
ments are not pleased because so few immigrants become citi- 
zens. All their children born in the country are claimed, but 



174 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 

I met quite a number who told me they were Orientals or 
Argentines, because they were born in the country, but when 
they went back to Europe they would also be citizens of their 
father country. 



XXIII. 

AFLOAT ON THE PARANA. 

A RIVER OF WONDERFUL WIDTH AND NUMBERLESS ISLANDS. 
— A GREAT COUNTRY FOR SHEEP — LUXURIOUS LAMB- 
ROASTS IMMENSE HERDS OF CATTLE AND HOW THEY 

ARE LASSOED — IMPORTED AMERICAN STOCK. 

Down the Uruguay we glided until we came to the mouth 
of the Parana River, known as the Guazu, and entering it 
were upon the surface of a mighty waterway, whose bosom 
is so broad that you must make your way some eleven hundred 
miles against the current, before both banks are visible at 
the same time. Opposite the city of Rosario it is forty-five 
miles wide, and that is about 150 miles from the mouth. The 
residents Ave found always spoke of going to the coast instead 
of to the river bank, which would not have seemed so odd 
if the vast expanse of water spread out unbroken before them, 
but it does not. The channel is so full of islands that the 
effect is that of a network of narrow water-courses instead 



170 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 

of one grand sweeping mass. The water is of a tawny shade 
because of particles of sand and earth that are carried along 
by it and form the islands. A stick that lodges will start 
an island and a wreck off a port will form a bar so cpuickly 
that the port is soon closed unless it is prevented by removing 
the obstruction. At the same time the current is so swift 
that it cuts away old islands with the greatest rapidity once 
chance begins the work. Pilots are a necessity, and only 
those who are always upon the river will take a vessel of 
much draught above Rosario. 

The islands naturally are all low, and they are densely 
covered with a growth of grass and low trees. They are the 
home of the nutria, whose skin is so prized by the makers of 
felt hats, and which are hunted by men in boats, armed with 
guns or spears, and assisted by dogs. The boats are rowed 
to a likely island and the dogs sent in along the shore. On 
finding an animal they engage it in combat, being seconded 
by their masters, who arrive as soon as possible, for the nutrias 
fight stubbornly, and the dogs often get badly bitten. 
Numerous snakes are in the underbush, and a small bird of 
greenish-yellowish plumage often alighted on the vessel. 
I was told that tigers — L e., leopards — were also to be found 
on the islands, and I do not doubt it, but none ever ventured 
forth to the edge as we were passing. There are numbers 
of capinchos, an animal that looked to me like a cross between 



ALONG SHOBE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 177 

a pig and a beaver. They live on land, and spend much 
time in the water. By some their flesh was said to be deli- 
cious to eat, that it tasted like pork, while other authorities 
as solemnly assured me it was horrid stuff, not even fit for 
the natives. The reader may take his choice. I never tried 
it. I used to enjoy watching the camelotes, or floating islands 
of weeds, sometimes of great extent, moving along with the 
current, making their way down toward the ocean, the vege- 
tation growing and weeds blossoming quite undisturbed by 
the journey. 

The river drains such an amount of territory that it is often 
high and often low, and vessels ashore are a very common 
sight. Let a sailing ship anchor to wait for a fair wind, and 
she may or may not be afloat when the wind comes ; and once 
aground, a bank will form around her so rapidly that her bones, 
may lie there until they become exposed and bleach. 

Just below the mouth stretch the flats of Martin Garcia,, 
where wrecks and vessels ashore were always to be seen, and 
the last time I passed over there were . twenty-five vessels 
beached, some of them large steamers, making quite a fleet 
in distress. The channel is buoyed, but the channel shifts, 
the buoys shift, and there you are. 

Before we came to any town our anchor generally dropped 

just in front of the estancia " El Ombu," where we were sure 

of a warm welcome from, and some charming days with, Mr. 

12 



178 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 

and Mrs. Kenyon, English people. The bank was bluff, and 
from the top edge the ground extends back in an unbroken 
plain to the horizon. Sheep are raised, and there were 
always large flocks of them feeding on the green grass and 
clover, each herd guarded by a man on horseback, while 
all about were numbers of horned plover, hawks, turkey- 
buzzards, and little gray owls that lived in burrows in the 
ground. There was an old house near the coast, which was 
kept in excellent repair, and had nice orange trees in front, 
but the mosquitoes were so bad that they were forced to 
build again, and moved about a mile and a half inland, 
quite near to the railroad station of El Paraiso, which is 
on the main line between Buenos Ayres and Rosario. Sev- 
eral large ombu, a row of eucalyptus, and an orchard of 
peach trees marked the house, which was, as usual, of one 
story, and covered a good deal of ground, besides the nu- 
merous out-buildings, which were all detached. Here we were 
treated to all the national dishes, were taken driving over 
the plain, went for duck and bird shooting, and had asados, 
when a lamb would be skinned, cleaned, and then roasted 
whole on a long iron rod — -asador — one end of which was driven 
into the earth before an open fire. It was delicious food, 
and made gluttons of us all. 

There were between 43,000 and 45,000 sheep that grazed 
over three square leagues of land, valued at $240,000 a 



ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 179 

square league. Clover was plenty, but the land was divided 
into sections by wire fences, and each field given a rest. 
Their thirst is slaked by water pumped into troughs in 
the different fields by the herdsmen, gauchos, peons, or what- 
ever you choose to call them. The adjoining estancia was 
owned by a Senor Martinez de Hoz, of Buenos Ayres, and 
here, as at many other estancias in the country, we were 
sure of a cordial greeting. Once I remarked that I had 
never seen an animal lassoed, and as a consequence we 
were invited, about a baker's dozen of us, to breakfast, 
and quite early in the morning were taken to see a herd 
rounded up and some cattle selected out of it by a pur- 
chaser from Buenos Ayres. When we reached the spot we 
found a large bunch of cattle surrounded by cow-boys, who 
were riding swiftly in an outer circle. Senor Martinez de 
Hoz and the buyer were near, and when an animal was 
selected by the buyer he would point it out, one or two 
cow-boys would dash in and bring the desired creature out 
of the confused mass, and, once it was out, the point was 
to keep it from returning, so a man would ride around it 
in circles until it was a good distance away and joined 
to those already selected. When this was finished Senor de 
Hoz told two of the men to take their lassos and catch 
me an animal. I had seen pictures of mad steers chased 
by picturesquely dressed gauchos, careering like mad over 



180 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 

a plain ; had read of the wonderful feats of catching an 
animal here or there on any projecting angle, until it 
seemed to me as if it must be a spectacle to make the 
heart beat high and the breath come short, and now I was 
to see this wonderful thing. Here was everything as I 
had pictured it in my mind ; but alas for my anticipations ! 
instead of a mad, galloping chase over the prairie, what I 
actually saw was two men ride up to the herd and stop 
at the edge of the dense mass. For a moment they were 
motionless, then one leaned over in his stirrups and dropped 
the loop • of his lasso over the horns of a bullock and towed 
him out. The beast fussed, kicked, and resisted, but out 
he came. Then I was asked where else he should be caught, 
and as he had his head well down and in the way, I 
said a front foot. Well, they worked a long while and 
finalljr got it there, but I think he walked into one of the 
numerous loops on the ground, as several other cow-boys 
had joined in the affair. I suppose it was very dangerous, 
for the cattle are wild, and I was not allowed to go far 
from the carriage, while the gentlemen kept close by their 
horses, as we all must be ready to mount and fly if the 
herd made a rush our way. But no picture of lassoing will 
ever please me again ; the rush and dash and excitement all 
vanished before the tame reality. A cow was killed, because 
it had a tumor on its jaw, and we saw it skinned, the men 



ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 181 

using the knives that they wear in their belts, the same 
that they use for eating and for killing their enemies. 

We had a delightful breakfast, and then went through the 
stables to see the stock, which has been imported to improve 
the herds. Among the horses was a big black stallion, son of 
the American horse Foxhall. There were merino sheep from 
Vermont, some English horses, and a bull. In front of the 
house was a large aviary, filled with native wild birds caught 
in the fields, and, just beyond, a charming garden, where we 
picked Parma violets, pansies, phlox, lryacinths, carnations, and 
mignonette, and where the gardeners wage eternal warfare 
against swarms of ants. There are about two square leagues 
in this estancia, and, as elsewhere, the herds are watched by 
gauchos, who live in little mud huts placed at convenient dis- 
tances about the fields and called puestos. A great deal of 
maize is raised about here, chiefly for use on the estancias. 



XXIV. 

UP THE GREAT RIVER TO THE MODERN CITY OF 

ROSARIO. 

ELECTRIC LIGHTS AND PUBLIC SCHOOLS — THE IRISH AS WOOL- 
GROWERS — -NEW DOCKS AT ROSARIO — SOCIETY FOR THE PRE- 
VENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS. 

The little town of San Pedro, on the right bank of the Pa- 
rana, was the next point of interest as we went on our winding 
way up stream. Standing on the top of the low bluff, its 
white houses and church gleaming in the sunshine, it always 
looked bright and neat, but bare, almost indecently so to one 
accustomed to trees and foliage, that soften while beautifying 
the angular lines of the architect and mason. Instead of being 
dedicated to St. Paul, which would seem a natural sequence, 
the next river hamlet boasts the good St. Nicholas as its sponsor 
and patron, and has thriven until it is the third city in the 
province of Buenos Ayres. There are a good many buildings 
scattered here and there alonD" the ed^e of the bluff between the 



ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 183 

towns, and from most of them a chute runs down to the water, 
by which sign we know that they are store-houses for the 
reception of hides and wool, mostly the latter. Sometimes they 
are full to overflowing, for wool-raising is one of the chief 
occupations in the Argentine Republic, and ocean steamers can 
lie alongside these bluffs and load, taking the raw material 
thence direct to the looms of Europe. I was told that the Irish 
were the fathers of the sheep industry, and that many had 
made large fortunes in it. There certainly are numbers of that 
nation resident in the country, and some of the Irish Portenas 
whom we met were charming girls, with a delightful Irish 
brogue, although born and brought up in the Argentine, all of 
which has nothing to do with our sheep, so revenons a nos 
moutons, which in this case is the town of San Nicolas. 

An island has formed in front of the town, so the anchorage^ 
is some distance below, and it was quite a pull against a strong 
current up to the wharf, which we reached only to find that it 
was built to fit the river during a freshet, and there were no 
steps to make it fit low water, and so we passed it by and got 
ashore by climbing over the side and across the deck of a small 
trading sloop. There were a few buildings at the base of the 
bluff, and here we found the captain of the port, a charming 
o-entleman, who took us into his inner sanctum and gave us a 
great many compliments and much information. Mate was 
served to us, and as it is always boiling hot I tried to swallow 



184 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAE. 

quickly, for one needs a tongue in condition to wag when 
ashore abroad, but it was no use ; it seemed as if a blister rose 
all the way down the tongue and throat in the wake of the fiery 
liquid, and the only vent to be found for my feelings was to 
disregard all signals to depart until each member of the party 
had swallowed their dose. There are about 15,000 inhabitants, 
all either well to do or rich, as they import very little and 
export a great quantity of wool, maize, and hides. There is a 
railroad station just behind the city where they can take the 
cars to Buenos Ayres to the southward, or Rosario to the north, 
and besides tapping the main line there is a short branch which 
goes to an inland town and brings much produce to the river. 

A steep paved way guided us up to the main city, and here 
we found the streets of good width, laid out at right angles, well 
paved and lighted by electric lights ; street-cars were running 
on the principal thoroughfares, the people looked healthy and 
happy, numbers of children were coming out of the public 
school buildings, and altogether everything except the low 
adobe houses looked American and nineteenth-century. The 
plaza was well shaded by trees and pretty, if one could forget 
the stucco monumental shaft in the center, which was painted 
blue and white, with an electric light on top. The church was 
closed, but the neat little inn alongside was not, and the beer — 
made in the country — deliciously cold. The market was 
empty except some meat, and we stopped at a corner to see the 



ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 185 

stage start for Mananzalita, thirteen leagues inland ; the vehicle 
was a small antiquated affair painted yellow and drawn by six 
white horses, harnessed four abreast and two leaders. They 
were untamed creatures and gave any amount of trouble before 
they finally consented to all start at the same time, the driver 
meanwhile nourishing his whip and giving us a chance to 
acquire some very choice expressions in hybrid Spanish. 

Rosario is the second city in the republic, and is not only a 
city of the present, but also of the future. It is well situated at 
a point which can be reached by large ocean vessels, while above 
the city the river is so uncertain as to its depth, even in the 
main channel, that large vessels dare not venture ; hence about 
all produce brought down for abroad is landed and reshipped. 
It is also quite a railroad center, will become still more so in 
time, and is a great point for shipping goods into the interior by 
wagon. Large docks are being built, slowly, to be sure, but 
surely, and the wood — nandubay — used is so hard that it takes 
a long while to shape it. It is red and rings almost like metal 
when struck. It is brought down from the forests of the Grand 
Chaco. 

From the river the city is lovely with its wharves, large 
yellow custom-house, and lines of streets that gradually ascend 
the bluff, while above an irregular sky-line of houses and trees, 
broken by the two towers of the cathedral, is all fascinating, 
and from its extent we hoped for much pleasure, only to be 



186 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAE. 

proportionately disappointed, as it proved to be dull and unin- 
teresting in the extreme. The shops are long lines of store- 
houses, mere depots, filled with large boxes and some samples, 
the streets almost deserted, stretching long distances of uniform 
houses. The pavements were bad, and the poor horses that 
dragged the heavy loads up the bluffs and along the rough 
streets cannot live very long, they are so beaten and maltreated. 
Across a broad street, from the head of the wharf, stands the 
big two-storied custom-house, and beside it is a peculiarly steep 
street leading to the upper city. 

It was always very painful for me to walk up or down that 
street, for it was filled from early dawn until late at night with 
a struggling, slipping crowd of over-burdened horses and oxen. 
The desperate struggle to plant their ill shod feet firmly, the 
jump under the sting of the lash, whose whistle filled the air at 
all times, the bend of the slender legs strained almost to break- 
ing, all make a horrible sight ; and steep as the street was we 
always made a rush to get up it and away. The Society for the 
Prevention of Cruelty to Animals was introduced into the coun- 
try by the late ex-President Domingo F. Sarmiento, and it is 
taking root even in Rosario, but progresses slowly and seems 
to have begun with chickens — to prevent their being carried 
about by the legs — instead of horses. 

Horses are fastened to the cart in a peculiar manner — first, 
the horse has a leather saddle put on him, which is very simple 



ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 187 

in make. They take a framework made of a straight piece of 
wood with two short pieces nailed at right angles on each end ; 
to the underside are fastened two long, round cushions, filled 
with hair; these rest on the horse's back, one each side of the 
back-bone, and over the framework is nailed a piece of leather, 
while under and over are laid as many saddle-cloths as the 
owner chooses, the whole held in place by a very broad girth. 
A rawhide thong passes through a hole in the end of the 
pole of the cart, and this throng is tied to a ring in one side 
of the saddle. A primitive bridle and reins are added, and 
the cart is ready to start unless more than one horse is needed. 
If so, one end of a long rope is fastened to the saddle of another 
horse, and the other end to some part of the cart, generally the 
front edge. Sometimes there will be two or even three of these 
loose horses attached. The horse connected with the pole 
does the steering, and he is free to go in any direction, acting as he 
does on a pivot — -the end of the pole. The driver rides this horse. 
The plaza is a large, bare square, with a few trees and benches 
around the sides, two broken fountains, and in the center a 
monument, which consists of a tall, fluted column, with a 
statue of Liberty on top, holding the Argentine flag, while at 
each of the four corners of the pedestal is a life-sized statue of 
an Argentine patriot, with an inscription beneath. These in- 
scriptions cannot be very encouraging to patriotic youths, as 
they state that Gen. San Martin died far from his country. 



188 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAB. 

Gen. Belgrano died in misery, Rivadavia died expatriated, and 
Moreno died in mid-ocean — on a ship, I suppose. The cathe- 
dral was being built around a smaller one, so, while the outside 
was finished, we never penetrated into the interior, because of 
the piles of bricks, mortar, and dust that met us at the door. 
Of all the crowds of Italian emigrants flocking to the Argen- 

o o o 

tine shores, the province of Santa Fe, of which Rosario de 
Santa Fe, usually called Rosario, is the capital, seems to have 
attracted the Piedmontese, and these hardy, industrious people 
are going in for agriculture and fruit gardens, sending their 
children to the public schools, improving the province in every 
way, and benefiting the city by giving it a flourishing back 
country. The government is kind to settlers, and these Italians, 
who are used to the hard, bitter lot of the European peasant, 
get on very well. They are strong, quick-tempered, as ready 
with the knife and firearm as the natives are, and do not growl 
when arrested and detained in jail months or years on sus- 
picion, for the right of habeas corpus is a dead letter, and tales 
of flogging and ill-treatment in the jails that I knew of, I would 
rather not dwell upon. But what can one expect when police 
and the file of the army are recruited from convicts. A police- 
man in the Argentine never seemed to me to embody peace, law, 
and order, having broken all three. The Argentines have a 
splendid country, and they are making rapid strides, but like 
every one else, they are far from perfection. 



XXV. 

A TRIP TO CORDOBA. 

A LAND VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY — THE WAKING CITY OF THE 
PAMPAS — RELICS OF THE CONQITISTADORES — THE CATHE- 
DRAL AND THE JESUITS' CHURCH — THE NUNS OF ST. 
DOMINIC STREET LIFE — MODERN IMPROVEMENTS. 

On the western edge of the vast Argentine pampas, deep set 
in the dry brown bowl where once glistened and rippled the 
waters of a lake, lies the quaint old city of Cordoba. Many 
years it has lain there, " the world forgetting, by the world 
forgot," its days of ancient glory having come and reached their 
zenith before the Pilgrim Fathers landed on our shores. Some of 
the old conquistadores, headed by Geronimo de Cabrera, march- 
ing with the sword in one hand and the cross in the other, as 
was their custom, came over the mountains from Peru and 
down through Bolivia, reaching in 1573 this bowl-like site. 
Seeing the pretty river rushing through it and the low range of 
foot-hills standing protectingly near, they pitched their tents, 



190 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 

and soon the solid city rose, churches keeping pace with the 
houses, the Jesuits even building a university and setting up a 
printing-press, from which came ponderous old tomes in Latin, 
Spanish, Quichua, and Guarani, the last two native Indian 
languages, the books being used by the missionaries to spread 
the gospel and teach the natives Spanish, and also containing 
histories of the tribes and country. Would they were there 
now ! but the remorseless enemies of the Jesuits, who caused 
them to be expelled from all the Spanish colonies, showed what 
ignorance and vandalism their cloaks and cowls covered when 
they burnt and destroyed the unique and invaluable library 
that had cost their predecessors so much blood and labor to 
accumulate and arrange. 

Now the iron ribbon connects Cordoba with Rosario, and 
thus with the outer world, and she is rubbing her eyes and 
beginning to wake from her long nap ; but there is still a 
delicious old sixteenth-century flavor about her. Her streets 
are narrow, and only the brilliant sunlight keeps them from 
being gloomy ; churches, convents, and religious property, 
marked with some holy sign above the doors, abound. The 
Cathedral is magnificent ; standing at one corner of the lovely 
old tree-shaded plaza, it is approached by broad steps and an outer 
court; the two tall towers, with their clusters of bells, are of 
adobe, worked and moulded into graceful shape with many 
ornaments ; part of the roof of the main aisle shows between 



ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 191 

them, while, behind all, the grand dome, looking like an imperial 
crown, rises to complete a lovely picture. The walls are 
smooth, but one can see in the outer ones where heavy uncut 
stones are set in, in courses, to give greater strength. The outer 
court is paved, and so is the portico, with old stones that show 
the tread of many feet ; but, once the quaint old wooden doors are 
passed, you meet the present age in a fine new-tiled floor ; it is 
beautiful and serviceable, but looks too new — as out of keeping 
as the new coarse frescoes that by their brilliant colors call your 
eyes away from the graceful curve of the arched roof of the aisles. 
A short walk through the narrow streets, and we entered 
the court before the oldest church of all, that of the Jesuits. 
Its walls are dark and stained by wind and weather, but the 
adobe fairly shines in spots, it has worn so smooth. Two 
sad, drooping trees — Quebracho blancho — grow in the court, 
and a soft twilight pervades the interior, as if the church 
were in mourning for those who founded and built only to 
be ruthlessly driven out. The ceiling is superb ; it is made 
of cedar that was brought from the distant mountains, on the 
backs of Indian converts, some two hundred and seventy 
years ago, then fashioned by their dexterous fingers and 
fitted in place without nail or screw. The church is in 
the shape of a Latin cross, the ceiling a Gothic arch, lined 
first with smooth, flat boards of the cedar, the surface then 
divided into spaces, richly ornamented by arabesques in gold 



J 92 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 

and color ; every few feet a broad, heavy moulding comes 
down from the apex, and following the curve ends at the 
base of the arch, where the wall begins ; these divide the 
lines of arabesques and are ornamented sparingly with gold 
and color. The dome is large and panelled with cedar, 
the four lower corners being 1 ornamented with wood old 

o o 

paintings of the four Evangelists. Below the roof, run- 
ning clear around the church, is a frieze of alternate por- 
traits and coats-of-arms, but these had been painted on 
canvas and were in a terrible state of disrepair ; those that 
one could make out seemed stern old Spaniards, clad in 
steel armor, but no one could tell me who they were. 
The old confessionals are fitted into niches in the ponder- 
ous walls, and the Jesuits, who have crept back one by 
one, although exiled by an unrepealed law issued the last 
time by Juan Manuel Rosas, President and Dictator of 
Buenos Ayres, are brushing up their old quarters, gilding- 
heavily the crown-like sounding-board that hangs above 
the preacher's desk, and trying to spoil the general effect 
by filling the floor space with wooden benches. The gold 
used on the ceiling was brought from Peru, and that same 
favored country furnished the paints that were used with 
such charming effect. A small side-door leads into a nar- 
row street, and if one looks back after leaving it, one sees 
over the portal in quaint old letters — 



ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAE. 193 

Oasa de Dios, 
Puerto del Cielo. 

Which is in English — 

The House of God, 
The Gate of Heaven. 

There is another door, which now is always barred and 
bolted, but once it led into their sunny old cloisters and 
garden, where the sun still shines, the fountain plashes and 
gurgles, the orange trees grow and are loaded with their 
golden fruit, while below them bloom and fade many lovely 
roses ; thence a stairway leads to the old library, where 
some of their books stand on the shelves, having been rescued 
and returned. Beneath it is the old hall, at one end of 
which still hangs a Holy Family ; and facing this, a full- 
length oil portrait of Bishop Trejo in canonicals. He was 
a native of Paraguay, and in 1613 founded the university, 
giving all his fortune of $40,000 for the purpose. The 
cloisters, gardens, and vaulted recitation-rooms still echo to 
the voices of youths being fitted for the battle of life ; 
but instead of low-voiced monks in flowing robes, they are 
guided and taught by German professors, imported by the 
general Government, and paid by the same power, so that 
instruction is received at merely a nominal cost. A very 

pleasant set of learned gentlemen are the professors, and 

13 



194 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 

they have had built a large, fine building, which adjoins 
the old one and has a beautiful front on Calle Ancha, 
the one broad street in the old city. One of the large 
new rooms has a fine collection of birds, among which are 
the only pair of bright-green eagles that I ever saw, and 
wonderful humming-birds, one of them having a semicircle 
of feathers, somewhat like those in a peacock's tail, stand- 
ing out from each side of his little body. There were all 
the game birds of the country, some of them resembling 
ours as California fruit resembles that of the Eastern States 
— larger, of the same outward appearance, and much less 
flavor. The professor of botany has also a most wonder- 
ful collection of the flora of the country, which he has 
wandered many hundred weary miles to collect. 

Near at hand is the church of Santa Catalina, with a famous 
nunnery attached, and, making an excuse of the fact that we 
wanted to get some bamboo and horsehair bombillas, that the 
nuns make, we looked for some time for an entrance to the 
convent, and not finding it we went into the church, Avhich is 
very large, like all the churches in the city, lofty, and decorated 
in good taste. It is profusely illustrated, if I may use the ex- 
pression, with scenes from the life of the patron saint, and she 
seems to have had a most uncomfortable time. There was a 
gallery over the door with gratings and cloth screen ; this is 
what the nuns occupy when they sing the services, but there 



ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 195 

was no entrance to it from the church, and we could not find 
any one in the body of the church, behind the high altar, nor 
in the small room to the right. There was a revolving cupboard 
in the wall there, but repeated knockings brought no one. At 
last in an alcove, in a small room on the left of the high altar, 
his cloak wrapped around him, sound asleep, we found a priest ; 
Ave waked him, and told him in our choicest Castilian what 
we wanted, and he not only told us the way to the inner court, 
behind some houses, but followed, and helped us to interview 
the sister who answered my knock on the turn-table. I never 
saw an article of wood so tightly fitted and yet which turned 
with such ease as this cupboard-like affair. I could hear a pleas- 
ant voice and musical laugh, but not a glimpse could I catch of 
the nun, who promised that if we would return in the afternoon 
she would see what she could do. When we returned, I told 
her I was the foreigner who wanted the homhillas, and she put 
a bunch of keys in the cupboard for me to give the portress, 
while she went to speak to the Lady Superior. A quiet-looking 
woman, shrouded in a manta, whom I had noticed sitting in 
the court, came forward, and taking the keys, led us to a small 
door in the corner next the church, and, unlocking it, let us 
into a long, narrow room, perfectly dark, except for the light 
that came through the door. At one end hung an old picture 
of the Madonna and Child, dressed in stiff gold brocade, and 
opposite a portrait of St. Dominic, clad in the same stiff drape- 



196 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 

ries that were such favorites with some of the earliest of the old 
masters ; otherwise they were lovely. Along the wall between 
them was a row of chairs, and when we sat down we faced 
an iron grating that occupied the entire length of the room, 
and was fastened into the floor and the ceiling. It was made 
of flat bands, riveted quite close together, and about five feet 
inside of this was a similar one, inside of that a thick cloth veil. 
Soon we heard the turning of a lock somewhere, and then two 
female voices spoke. I had quite a long conversation with 
them, and found they knew all about themselves and their order, 
but nothing else. They are a branch of the order of St. 
Dominic, and this house was founded by one of the conquista- 
dores in 1613 ; there are only rooms for forty nuns, and as soon 
as one dies another stands ready to enter, yet they draw only 
from the best families, and are strictly cloistered, living, dying, 
and being buried within the walls. They said they were happy, 
but their voices had a hollow sound, as if they came from the 
tomb, and I involuntarily pressed close against the outer railing 
as if to get nearer the unfortunates, for whom my heart was 
filled with pity when I thought of all they had renounced, and 
what their lives must be. 

La Marced is another large church, and has a monastery at- 
tached. The monks wear a white habit, and looked very pictur- 
esque as we saw them, through a half-open door, pacing to and 
fro beneath the trees in the sunny garden. The church was 



ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 197 

being repaired, and only one altar was in order; before that 
about a dozen young brothers were chanting a service, keeping 
their eyes on us instead of their books ; but they knew it all so 
well that they made no mistake. There was a horrible looking 
statue of a saint over one altar; he had been split open and 
cleaned out, but to judge by facial expression, was still alive. 
San Francisco Church was entirely closed for repairs, and the 
only other big church we entered was Saint Dominic's, which 
has a rej>ousse silver front to the high altar and a fine old pul- 
pit ; it also lias a Gothic wooden altar, prettily carved, under- 
neath which is a passage into the monastery. The orphanage 
opposite the Jesuit church is in charge of some sisters, who 
have a large number of little unfortunates under their care. 

We visited two of the markets, but found very little of native 
manufacture in them ; some rough pottery, coarse blankets, 
gayly-colored saddlebags of wool, and some coffee-colored lace, 
was about all. The lace was soft and prett} 7 , with an im- 
mense amount of labor on it, and not very fine after all. In 
the streets only the richest women wear bonnets or hats, the rest 
use the black cashmere manta that is so common in Peru and 
Chili. It is a piece of cloth about nine feet long, and four to 
six in width, wound around the head and shoulders, enveloping 
the person as far down as the waist ; a perfectly plain skirt is 
generally worn with it. Many of the men wear the old (/audio 
dress except the boots, which were formerly made by peeling 



198 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 

the hides off an animal's legs, pulling them while still warm and 
soft over their own feet and legs, and leaving them to dry on 
and shrink into shape. Now they wear rough leather boots or 
low shoes, the latter made of canvas and rope, like those sold 
for bathing with us. The legs are covered with white cotton- 
cloth drawers that come down to the ankles, and are often em- 
broidered, fringed, or otherwise ornamented nearly up to the 
knee ; the poor simply wind a piece of cloth round their legs. 
These drawers are called calconoillas. As they would not be 
warm enough by themselves, a square of woolen cloth, varying 
from the coarsest woven sheep's wool up to very fine vicuna, 
according to the purse of the wearer, is taken ; one straight 
side is fastened around the waist by a wide leather belt orna- 
mented with big silver buttons ; the short ends that are left 
hang down in front ; the center of the straight side opposite that 
which is wrapped around the waist is brought up between the 
legs in front and tucked firmly under the belt ; the two corners 
are left hanging loose. This garment is called the chiripa, and 
always looks as if it were going to drop off, but it does not; the 
square is large in order to give plenty of room when riding, 
and as a consequence, the bunch which does duty for the seat 
falls nearly to the wearer's ankles behind. A woolen shirt 
covering the upper part of the body, and hanging over one 
shoulder for Convenience in carrying, or else regularly put on, 
is the poncho that all classes use more or less. This is often 



ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 199 

very fine and finished with a deep knotted fringe ; it is simply 
a square of cloth, with a slit in the centre through which the 
wearer puts his head. A handkerchief knotted around the 
throat, some kind of a soft wool hat, and a sharp-pointed knife 
thrust into the belt complete the costume. When mounted on 
their small, wiry horses, the lasso, a coil of rawhide rope, at the 
saddle, riding rapidly and flourishing the thong-like whip that 
hangs from the wrist, their dress looks picturesque and suitable ; 
but once they dismount and begin to walk, one sees it is but a 
swaddling for the form, clumsy, ungainly, and, like most native 
dresses, with no attention paid to shape, and the object of cover- 
ing for warmth but imperfectly attained. 

There is a nice theater, of good size, near the plaza, where an 
excellent company was giving Italian opera. There are two 
large plazas ; the original one being filled with fine old trees, 
underneath which one can sit on comfortable benches and listen 
to a magnificent military band of some sixty well-trained musi- 
cians ; the other plaza is quite distant, but it is lovely, for it is 
nearly all lake, only room for a shaded walk around the out- 
side, and in the center one sees a small island with a grotto on 
it ; and on this island on feast-days and holidays they burn set 
pieces of fireworks, their reflections in the water adding much 
to the effect. There is a promising Museum of the Province, 
that has just been started and put in charge of Padre Lavagna, 
a priest with a noble face, who had charge of a parish in the 



200 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 

mountain region. His parish nourished ; but while there he 
spent a good deal of time on botany, geology, and kindred sub- 
jects, reading Darwin's works and other like books, seeking 
more light on his favorite pursuits. A visiting priest saw them ; 
he was reported and removed from his parish, which left him 
to starve until the Government held out a helping hand, giving 
him at the same time congenial work. 

On the top of the bluff which makes the edge of the bowl 
that the city lies in, are two interesting buildings, the Observa- 
tory and Meteorological Bureau, both government institutions 
and both in charge of scientists from the United States. The 
Observatory was built during the Presidency of Gen. Domingo 
Sarmiento and has done some wonderfully good work, being 
not only well managed but the situation being exceptionally 
good for statistical work, in the Meteorological Bureau, which 
for so young an institution is progressing wonderfully. Its 
record shows an average of 65 per cent, of perfectly clear, 
sunny weather during the year in Cordoba. There is one dis- 
agreeable side to so much sunshine, and that is the clouds of 
dust, which fill the air at every puff of wind ; it lies inches 
thick on everything that does not move, and when in the street 
even one's face is soon coated with it. 

The hotels are not clean and not warmed, but the food is 
pretty good. Walking about the streets, one notices many 
bamboo-huts, the sides plastered o^er with mud and having 



ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 2 01 

thatched roofs, while towards the outskirts there are clusters 
and long lines of them ; but now they are all doomed, and will 
be destroyed at the end of three months ; a piece of land quite 
outside of the city having been set apart where the poor In- 
dians can erect others. This is only one of the many schemes 
on foot to beautify the place. A plaza near the river was im- 
proved ; a colossal equestrian statue, in bronze, of Gen. La Paz 
erected, and unveiled in the presence of the President, his Cab- 
inet, and the foreign diplomatic corps, who all came from 
Buenos Ayres to assist. Just beyond the statue is a fine iron 
bridge, called the Marcos Juarez Celman bridge, in honor of the 
President ; this bridge rests at either end on the splendid new 
embankment which will hedge the river in on either side when 
finished, and prevent the disastrous, fever-producing inunda- 
tions that formerly came every spring when the snows of the 
Andes be^an to melt. On the farther side of the bridge a level 
space at the foot of the encircling bluff has been laid out as a 
park, and promises well. An immense dam and reservoir is 
building in the mountains for ■* the purpose of irrigating the 
entire plain about the city so as to surround it with green fields 
and groves. There is a good race-course with a large grand- 
stand, the boxes of which were filled with dark-eyed senoras and 
senoritas on the ninth of July, which is their Independence Day, 
when we saw some very fair races and an interesting crowd of 
countrymen, who had ridden in on their little horses and took 



202 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 

a great interest in all the events of the ckvy. The racers were 
mostly of English blood or imported stock crossed with native. 

We happened upon a fair, and finding the girls in charge 
pretty, went in and invested. Nothing was for sale outright, 
but you handed one of the senoritas any sum you chose, and she 
gave you a greater or less number of tiny paper rolls, which 
were glued so tightly that it took some minutes to open each ; 
generally you found all blank inside, but one of the gentlemen 
found two numbers, after investing several dollars, and received 
a spool of pink cotton thread and a little picture with a prayer 
on the back. There were all sorts of bric-a-brac around the 
room with a number fastened to each, but those numbers did 
not appear to us nor to any of the other numerous gamblers in 
the place. However, the girls were pretty and pleasant. 

One of the residents, who was very kind to us, was an en- 
thusiastic botanist, and showed us many curious things that 
were indigenous, among them the bark of a tree which could be 
scaled off in pieces no thicker than paper, making excellent 
cigarette wrappers. One day he proposed that we go to call on 
a friend of his in the country, and of course we were delighted. 
We rode through the city, and started to walk. It had not 
rained for months, the dust was ankle-deep and rose about us 
in a cloud. The road was very long, and I began to ask ques- 
tions about the dust-laden shrubs and received a great deal of 
information in return. Some of them belonged to the cinchona 



ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 203 

family, others bore a seed vessel with a covering resembling 
tripe, and the bush is called monk's tripe. 

Finally we arrived to find the usual low, white-washed 
country house, with numerous outbuildings, but this one was 
unusually blest in having numerous bright green fields about 
it, irrigated by the broad shallow river which flowed near by. 
The owner was absent, gone to the city, a peon informed us, 
and after expressing regret and disgust our guide proposed to 
take us home another way. I had been growing more and 
more amused as I watched the faces of our crowd, and felt 
ready for any lark, so agreed that we had better go home 
another way, and he led us across the green fields down to the 
river bank ; he and I were about to step in and wade over when 
there was a revolution behind us and we had to go back the 
way we came. 

Once in the hotel, I was treated to a piece of the mind of 
each of the party, my interest in shrubs belittled, and 
finally a demand was made to know if I had really intended 
wading that river, and I said, " Why not ? " I had already 
spoiled a blue cloth costume rather than hurt the feelings of 
our new friend, and saw no reason to hesitate at ruining a pair 
of shoes as well by wading, and as the water was not over half 
a foot deep, they would none of them have drowned. I was 
the only woman in the party, and the men did not like to show 
the white feather first, so I enjoyed their disgust and knew I 



'204 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 

could easily get even when necessary, as some spoke no Spanish 
and the others could not rattle it off as I could, and they often 
wanted help. 

Cordoba is a most interesting place, and one could most 
pleasantly pass a month here, our nine days being altogether 
too short. It is not yet modernized, and it is only by straying 
far from the regular routes in Europe that one can find such a 
charming, antique city to wander in as this, which is only to be 
reached by passing over miles and miles of dead level pampas ; 
almost 250 of them, as the crow flies, lie between it, the city of 
Rosario, and the great Parana River. 

In the streets of Cordoba only the richest women wear 
bonnets or hats ; the others use the soft, black cashmere manta 
that is so common in Peru and Chili. In Lima, the capital of 
Peru, it is the only recognized head-gear for church wear. If you 
attempt to enter a sacred edifice with hat or bonnet on some 
one will ask you to take it off ; bare heads or mantas are alone 
permissible. This manta is a piece of cloth about nine feet 
long and four to six in width, wound around the head and 
shoulders, enveloping the person always as far as the waist and 
sometimes to the knees. It is always of black, its fineness 
depending upon the purse of the wearer. One sometimes sees 
women and young girls in a snuff-colored petticoat, leather 
girdle pendant, and white manta. These are people who have 
taken a vow to wear the dress for a certain length of time, as a 



ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 205 

thank-offering for recovery from sickness of themselves or of 
some relative or friend. It is not assumed as a penance for 
terrible sins, as some assert, for I was repeatedly assured by 
native women in Peru that it was often put on as one would 
light a candle and put it before an altar, for any trivial religious 
reason. The women of South America are often spoken lightly 
of, and it seems to me quite without reason. If their men were 
like ours, if the women had our education and chances they 
would be as famous for their morality and beauty as is the girl 
of the United States. There, as everywhere, it is the one lamb 
who goes astray that is told of in song and story, not the ninety 
and nine in the sheepfold. After four years spent in South 
America, I am a warm defender of the women there. They are 
pretty, sweet, gentle, and pure, and their intellects good. 
What more can one ask ? 



XXVI. 

FROM ROSARIO TO SANTA ELENA AND CITIES 
BY THE WAY. 

PROFESSOR KEMMERICH'S BEEF-EXTRACT WORKS — AN ES- 
TABLISHMENT LARGER THAN LIEBIG-'S — CAPTIVE INDIAN 
GIRLS AND WOMEN AS HOUSE SERVANTS. 

Just above the city of Rosario, the right bank of the 
Parana is a bluff and clotted with buildings, while the islands, 
being old, are well wooded, which makes them prettier than 
common, but this only lasts a while and we are soon winding 
and twisting* among; the shifting; islands. The vessels we 
see are much smaller than those we saw below, and our 
craft had difficulty in obtaining a pilot, the one who had come 
from Asuncion three months before, declining to go, as the 
channel would be sure to have changed in that time. Dia- 
mante Point is a fine wooded headland, which we passed on 
the second clay, and here it is that the naval academy was 
being placed, it having been decided to move the youths 



ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 207 

from their old quarters on one of the fine avenues of Buenos 
Ayres. While the location is healthy," and the view must 
be superb, yet it will seem a desert to the boys at first, and 
the tiny village nestling at the base of the river bluff of small 
account. We now found the left bank bluff all the way, 
and these bluffs are full of fossils, of all sorts and descriptions, 
from mastodons to tiny shells, the whole province of Entre 
Bios being a most famous place in which to search, all the 
museums of the country being well supplied from there. 
The city of Santa Fe, on the right bank, is large, but it is 
set so far back from the river that in passing one sees only 
the few buildings that form the port, whence a railroad runs 
to the city. 

The city of Parana is just above on the Entre Puos bank, 
and here we tarried, anchoring close under a steep bluff, 
which is gradually being dug away to obtain the shells, just 
here mostly those of oysters, which lie in thick layers like 
veins, and are speedily converted into lime at the kilns near 
by. An oyster is not to be obtained in the markets of Uruguay 
or the Argentine, except a few that are brought down from 
Rio de Janeiro, yet here are millions of shells that must once 
have held the delicious morsels, and stopping by the bluff 
we dug out a few shells to take on board, because they 
reminded us of the pleasures to come when once more we 
should be cliez Uncle Sam. Landing at the wharf, we passed 



208 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 

several vessels loading with lime, and numerous ox-carts 
drawing the same to them. The street was a poor roadway, 
with a few houses here and there, and at the farther end 
we found a street-car, drawn by three horses — a spiked team 
— which was soon filled with people ; then the driver cracked 
his long whip, shouted lustily to the poor hrutes, and they 
dashed off, dragging the heavy car up the steep bluff, along 
a gently sloping street, about a mile and a half in all, into 
the city. The place is now, since the decadence of Concep- 
cion del Uruguay, the capital of the province, the two cities 
being connected by rail. Parana is thriving ; it has a good 
port, which its rival has not, so all the produce from the 
interior comes there to be shipped ; then, like most places 
in the country, there were all sorts of schemes on foot, — booms, 
one might call them, — while every one was cheerful and 
smiling, seeing a great fortune in the near future. To a 
stranger there was not much of interest, the same narrow 
streets that are found everywhere, high sidewalks, adobe 
houses with flat roofs, and shops for the sale of necessaries. 
A church with a crooked cross on top, unfinished without and 
bare within, faced the old plaza. The new plaza was farther 
up and looked rather pretty with its flower beds, while the 
singing of the children in the graded schools called our at- 
tention to the large building whence they soon came swarm- 
ing to scatter in all the adjacent streets. One day we pulled 



ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 209 

down the river to where some railroad tracks came down to 
bring freight to ships, and wandered into the country, which 
we found covered with grass and low bushes. The views 
of rolling land and spreading river were quite pretty, and 
the cardinal birds whistled blithely as they flew from bush 
to bush. We were brushing off mosquitoes and wandering 
about rather aimlessly, when suddenly surrounded by a herd 
of goats, in charge of a tiny cherub-faced boy who was singing 
at the top of his voice something about the moon, until the. 
song was frozen in his little throat by the sight of strangers ; 
yet he soon forgot his fears and told us about his herd, finally 
running off after them with a smile and a cheery good-day 
to us. 

Villa Urquiza is a little town named for the old tyrant? 
whose brother still lives there. It looked especially pretty as 
we glided past, because of the fringe of willow trees along the 
bank, underneath which were a number of people and carts, 
which gave it a lively air. There is quite a number of colonies 
on either bank, mostly formed by different nationalities and 
called the Swiss colony of Anna Maria Point, German colony 
of some other place, and they were all reported as flourishing, 
but generally sat well back from the river and were not easily 
accessible. 

The next stop, to go ashore, was at Santa Elena, where is the 

large condensed beef-extract factory of Prof. Kemmerich, a 

14 



210 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 

German, who was for many years head man under Mr. Giebert 
at Liebig's factory in Uruguay. He married one of Mr. Gie- 
bert's daughters, a charming woman, and we enjoyed several 
days here, mostly spent at the hospitable house of Prof. Kem- 
merich and his brother-in-law, Giebert, who is also in the busi- 
ness. There were two interesting Kemmerich girls, and each 
had an Indian waiting-maid of about her own age. I say about, 
as Mrs. Kemmerich told me she had no means of knowing the 
age of the children when given to her, for they were captives. 
The smallest one — about five years of age — was bought of her 
captor for a bottle of cane (native rum), and he gave no details 
to the friend who secured her. We often saw Indian girls fill- 
ing the place of servants in families of officials, and, while they 
seemed always kindly treated — and those with her were cer- 
tainly most kindly and considerately and even tenderly treated 
by Mrs. Kemmerich — -still their position excited my curiosity. 
I was told by an Englishman who had been long years in 
the country, that the Indian tribes in the North were often 
troublesome, and when war was made on them the men were 
killed or enlisted in the army, while the women and children 
were brought to the river and started for Buenos Ayres ; that 
wherever the steamer stopped that had women captives on board 
the inhabitants could go to the authorities and get orders for 
what number they wished, then could go on board, pick out 
their women and take them away as their property — slaves, in 



ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 211 

short. He also told me that, finally, the foreigners found it out 
and were so distressed at the sights consequent on separating 
families that they protested until the government sent orders to 
take no more women and girls prisoners. I had the temerity to 
ask several Argentine officials about it, and am free to say their 
elaborate and explanatory denials were not altogether convinc- 
ing, chiefly because they left the presence of the girls I had seen 
unaccounted for. The little one at the Kemmerichs' was 
bought from an Indian who was supposed to have captured her 
from some other tribe with whom his people were at war. 
Prof. Kemmerich is professor, doctor, and land-owner, as well 
as owner and head of a factory larger than Liebig's, where de- 
licious extract is made, and he also puts up a peptonized 
extract and liquid concentrated bouillon, neither of which is 
prepared by Liebig. He is also German consul and a citizen of 
that empire. About the house is quite a colony of houses for 
the workmen as well as a schoolhouse where the children are 
taught. One day we went for a long ride in the country, and 
the roads near the settlement were a novelty to me. The thou- 
sands of animals driven to slaughter are about the same size, and 
when the road was softened by rains they had trodden it into 
furrows, each row stepping in the tracks of those preceding. 
Then the road had dried, which hardened it. Driving over 
this is to be imagined. Miss Kemmerich and I braced against 
one another and clung to the carriage with our hands, yet it was 



212 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 

delightful, too, for the country was slightly rolling and fairly 
well wooded. There were numerous flocks of parrots and par- 
roquets flying about, as well as doves and quail. We visited 
an estancia and watched and talked to the herders and their 
women and children, as well as saw a little of their home life. 
This was a farm house, and the contrast with any I ever saw in 
my own land was striking ; the utter lack of cleanliness, comfort, 
or even what we would consider necessities, and the satisfaction 
of all hands with the existing state of affairs was appalling, yet 
these people were kind and hospitable, offering eggs and mate, 
which seemed their all. 



XXVII. 
LA PAZ TO CORBIENTES. 

ITS QUAINT OLD STRUCTURES THE CHURCHES, MARKETS, 

AND PUBLIC BUILDINGS — CHAT WITH A BANK CASHIER 

AND AN INTERVIEW WITH A NATIVE PRIEST A TOWN 

THREE HUNDRED YEARS OLD. 

The city of La Paz is quiet and peaceful, even if it is not 
the actual abode of the peace which passeth all understanding, 
and shortly after we had anchored the pilot went on shore to 
his home and sent me off, not a dove, but a live cardinal bird, 
tied up in a handkerchief. The next day we went ashore to 
find it quite a city, situated on ground sloping up from the 
river, spreading out over a good deal of space, as there are 
many trees and some orchards. There does not seem to be 
much trade, and although the streets have been cut into deep 
ruts by the wheels of heavy wagons, many were grass grown, 
ruts and all. After our custom, we talked with the people in 
the streets and shops, a wine merchant asking us back into his 



214 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 

house, where we found a pretty wife and a numerous brood of 
black-eyed little children, one of whom was several times 
offered to us, and they really seemed in earnest in so doing. 
The shops were small, but, as usual, there was a silversmith 
who hammered out pretty things for the adornment of man, 
woman, and horse. They are building a fine, large munici- 
palidad or town hall, and the plaza had long lines of rose bushes, 
orange and eucalyptus trees. The country around was dotted 
with white houses, which looked pretty and cheerful. 

From here we left the bluffs behind us, that is, we left the 
.bank and struck out into the maze of islands, sometimes brush- 
ing close to them, and little birds were often brought me that 
had alighted on the deck or rigging. They were mostly like 
our yellow birds, and were so wild that we let them go when 
near the bank on either side. 

The town of Esquinas was visible in the distance, over a low 
island which had formed in front and effectually blocked up the 
port to any but the tiniest craft. Bella Vista looked much like 
the other towns when we slowed down off it to send the mail 
ashore and get some marketing. The official visit of the 
captain of the port was made in a boat evidently hired for the 
occasion, as while he had two port sailors in uniform as 
attendants the man who rowed had the whole carcass of a cow 
to dispose of, for which he asked twelve nationals, but came 
down to ten and a-half, about $6.25. 



ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 215 

Next we came to the city of Corrientes, which is large and of 
a good deal of importance, being the chief northern city of the 
Argentine. Here it was that Francisco Solano Lopez made the 
start with his Paraguayan troops to cross Argentine territory in 
order to reach his enemies, the Brazilians, which act opened 
hostilities in what was to be a five years' war, and gave the 
Argentines a chance to join the Brazilians in the attempt to 
partition Paraguay among them. During the war this city was 
headquarters for the allied armies and fleets. By this time we 
were far enough north to have the landscape quite tropical ; 
orange groves were to be seen from Bella Vista up, and their 
glossy green foliage was lovely against the gray and white 
adobe walls of the houses and churches of Corrientes. 

After the usual official fuss and feathers we went ashore, and 
I was charmed with the quaint old houses. The streets are 
narrow and numerous. Walking out one day we came to the 
market, finding, as it was late in the afternoon, only a few 
women guarding, among other things, piles of oranges, which 
sold, to foolish strangers, for fifty cents a hundred. Quantities 
of cigars made from native tobacco were there : some of the 
women were rolling them then against the next day's sales. 
The tobacco was light in color, but looked good. These women 
also make a lace like that of Cordoba, the mesh square and 
knotted, the pattern tied or woven in. There were plenty of 
the familiar peanut, but raw, and we passed them by to enjoy 



216 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 

the antics and chatter of two parrots, who were swinging in a 
ring and having a most jolly time, to judge by the frequent 
peals of laughter that interlarded their gossip. We stopped at 
a bank to buy some paper money and became quite intimate 
with the cashier, while all the clerks came and stood around, 
gazing with undisguised curiosity; it made one feel like a 
monkey and a hand organ. However, we heard the family 
history of the friendly official, and he offered to take us about 
in his carriage at any time. He said the town was three hun- 
dred years old, and it doubtless is. Many of the oldest houses 
were long and unusually low with tiny windows and small, 
heavily-barred doorways, a porch along the front, its roof sup- 
ported at the eaves by black palm-tree trunks, and the roof 
covered with other varieties of palm trunks that had been slit 
and scooped out in the center, like a Dutch tile. On the fronts 
of some of them were bullet marks, souvenirs of revolutions. 

There were frequent, heavy showers every day of our stay 
and the streets a mass of mud, but the raised sidewalks were 
passable and the crossings fair. Stores were quite numerous, 
and very good for the situation of the city. Country wagons 
■ — -prairie schooners — drawn by long lines of oxen were fre- 
quently seen, and, as to reach the leaders, a goad with a very 
long handle was needed, it was often suspended by a rope just 
under the roof of the wagon, and the driver by reaching up 
could direct it to the flanks of the oxen without much trouble. 



ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR 217 

Some of the goads were ornamented with tufts of ostrich 
feathers. The grand plaza was quite pretty with a monument 
in the center and a fine municipal building at one corner, shin- 
ing in its coat of new stucco and paint. Another side of the 
square is decorated with a mediaeval castle-like structure, which 
is the Cabildo, built in 1816. 

Near this latter was the rough brick church of Our Lady of 
Mercy, and we were much disappointed to find all the doors 
locked. An arch in a side-wall led into a grass-grown quad- 
rangle with cloisters around it, and we were debating about 
entering when across the green turf, cantering toward us, came 
a black horse with rough, long coat. Astride him, his legs 
sticking straight out, cassock rolled up, and tucked into the 
rope girdle, was a priest. His shovel-hat well on the back of 
his head showed a face of pure Guarani type. When he saw us 
he smiled pleasantly, reined in his charger, and halting, showed 
us where a rope and bell hung near by. We rang and then lie 
rang, but the porter was probably stowed away in some cell 
enjoying a siesta, and tying his horse to a post the priest slipped 
out of the saddle and offered himself as guide after furnishing' 
my husband with a native cigar like the one he himself was 
consuming. He told us there were 4,000 inhabitants and that 
the people were very religious ; he was proud of being a native, 
born twenty-five leagues awaj r , and spoke some Guarani for us, 
thinking it very odd that we did not speak it. It seems a 



218 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 

language of guttural exclamations, and in time we acquired a 
little of it, but it must be quite a language, for it was tire pre- 
dominant speech of Eastern and Southern South America, as 
Quichua was of the northern and western parts. 

The church was clean and had several altars in good order, 
but nothing to interest us as much as our guide, who cross- 
questioned us as to our religious beliefs as well as our country, 
and finally left us with a blessing and a cheery good-day, trot- 
ting off to make a visit in the country. 

The church of San Francisco — in another part of the town — 
has a most imposing look, approached as it is by two colon- 
nades that sweep up to the front in fine curves, but the interior, 
while large, was a disappointment, barring some old carved- 
leather coverings to some antique chairs. The paths in the 
Plaza San Martin were under water, but from the surrounding 
sidewalk we saw a military figure, with tall shako on head and 
sword in hand, on foot charging an imaginary foe. The gardens 
were full of lovely flowers, and it was only necessary to stop 
and admire to have one's hands filled with the fragrant blossoms 
of rose and jessamine bushes. 



xxvni. 

THE CITY OF ASUNCION— ELEVEN HUNDRED 
MILES UP THE PARANA AND PARAGUAY. 

Paraguay's long and bloody struggle for independ- 
ence — HER THREE GREAT DICTATORS — INTERVIEW WITH 
THE SON OF FRANCISCO SOLANO LOPEZ. 

When the town of Corrientes faded from our sight I gazed 
up stream with increasing ardor and impatience, for we were 
nearing the goal of my desire — the land of dictators and of 
a war whose history reads like a grand, bloody romance in 
five volumes, one for each year in which the little land- 
bound republic of Paraguay held at bay its proud and 
powerful neighbors, its people copiously watering the soil 
of their native land with their blood in order to preserve 
their autonomy and their rights. What matters it that they 
fought under and at the command of a tyrant ? What if 
Francisco Solano Lopez was unnecessarily unjust? and all 
the braver their fight if there were brightness neither at 



220 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAB. 

home nor abroad. Think of that little nation fighting for 
so long Brazil, Argentine, and Uruguay, yet at the end pre- 
serving most of its country ; and who ever heard of their 
complaining? Nine-tenths of her people fell, men, women, 
and children, in battle, of wounds, hunger or disease : the 
country was unfilled ; money, jewelry, all, even the most 
desperate resources for raising money exhausted, yet they 
took up the burden and began again unknown, unnoticed. 
One hundred thousand people alone remained in 1870; but 
their country is wonderfully rich in gifts of nature. The 
mountains and plains are covered with valuable forests ; 
many streams water it ; the climate is tropical, and cultiva- 
tion of the soil easy. So when the people increase once 
more and develop their natural riches there seems no reason 
why they should not take a prominent place in the sisterhood 
of republics. 

Dr. Francia Carlos Antonio Lopez, and after him his son, 
Francisco Solano Lopez, each in his turn from 1811 to 1870, 
held Paraguay in their relentless grasp, dictators and tyrants 
by all we can read and hear — the last seeming the worst 
of all ; yet there is truth in what his son Enrique said to 
me in Buenos Ayres, when I asked him to tell me of a 
book which should give a history of the war from the 
Paraguayan side. " There is none," said he. " Our side 
has never been written." This same Enrique is a quiet, 



ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 221 

self-possessed man, having a lovely home, devoted to his wife 
and children — the former, an American by birth, and beau- 
tiful. He has a fine library, and kindly loaned me books 
upon his native land in all the languages I knew. There 
was here a fine picture of his father, in uniform, mounted 
on a white horse ; not a fine figure — too stout, and the face 
Guarani; that is a round Indian face, prominent features, 
but the face round. The photograph of his mother, Madame 
Lynch, was beautiful. She would have passed for a twin 
sister of the Empress Eugenie. He himself looked like a 
Spaniard, while the next younger brother, Carlos, was more 
blonde and taller, but he lacked the dignity and polish of 
Enrique, who is a fine linguist and most kindly satisfied 
my curiosity by showing many relics of his father, such as 
his field-marshal's baton of blue velvet studded with gold 
stars and the ends of the same metal beautifully worked ; 
a gold riding- whip presented by General Mitre upon the 
occasion of a conference ; official papers signed by Francia 
and all of his successors in office until the war began ; 
military decorations ; a file of a paper in Guarani, which was 
published in his father's camp during the whole war, and 
many other most interesting things. 

Above Corrientes we passed several boats loaded with 
oranges, for it was the first of May and the crop was beginning 
to come down. They are piled in as we would pile in stones, 



222 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 

filling the whole boat, and that they may hold still more, the 
sides are built up with a rough basket-work, and the golden 
fruit put in until it almost overflows. We entered the mouth 
of the Paraguay River quite late in the afternoon, and our first 
glimpse of the country was of a low point of land between the 
Parana and Paraguay, which proved to be an island where 
6,000 Brazilians were buried during the war, having died of 
wounds and disease. It seemed odd, after our hundreds of 
miles of river traveling, to finally be where we could see both 
banks, but it was very pleasant — we felt as if we were seeing 
more. The next morning we passed Humaita, our first Para- 
guayan town, which was spread out some distance along a low 
bluff, at which lay two vessels being loaded by women with 
oranges. The town seemed to have about 1,000 inhabitants, and 
over a long, low building floated the Paraguayan flag, which 
consists of three broad horizontal stripes of red, white, and blue, 
the center one of white bearing mid-way the arms of the 
country, a lion guarding a pole on which is a liberty-cap. The 
town was dominated by the ruins of a church which was bat- 
tered down by the Brazilians. All the houses have thatched 
roofs. There was no sign of fort or fortification, but a battle 
was fought there, and a chain stretched across the river to im- 
pede the enemy's fleet. 

We passed a rather flourishing colony on the Argentine side, 
and then came to the town of Villa Pilar, of the same size and 



ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 223 

general appearance as Humaita. A steamer the size of ours 
was an unusual sight, and when we passed, many of the people 
came to the bank to see, which pleased us, as we wanted to see 
them. They were generally dressed in white cotton-cloth, had 
copper-colored skins, and the women largely predominated. 
The trees in the woods were lovely, so fresh and green, and 
there were many flowers. After the mouth of the Vermejo 
River was passed, the water was clear, which looked so pretty, 
after the yellow, rushing flood of the Parana. There were 
crocodiles sunning themselves on bits of beach or stranded logs, 
and we saw a cross erected to mark the last resting-place of 
some lonely pilgrim. 

The next day we passed several colonies on the Argentine 
side. That of Formosa is large, and has a cana factory, with 
fields of sugar-cane about it, a fine office for the port officials, 
and barracks for soldiers. Opposite is a straggling Paraguayan 
town, built to prevent smuggling. Wherever there was an open 
space the ground was dotted with palm trees, and banana 
plants surrounded each house. The next day we began to see 
hills and wooded mountains in the distance, while along the 
river the bluffs grew higher and more picturesque. How lovely 
the tropical scenery looked ! The richness of color, the abun- 
dance, all such a treat to the eye, while the hills and the mount- 
ains seemed so glorious after more than a year of dull, colorless 
stretches of pampas, that I began to love the beautiful land my- 



224 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 

self, and felt a personal sympathy for the patriotic Paraguay- 
ans. It must be so easy to adore such a beautiful land. We 
passed the town of Villeta, which is the center of the orange 
trade, and near the back was a large shed, underneath which 
were piles of oranges, and oxcarts full of them were being 
dumped, adding to the accumulation. The peak of Lambare 
near the bank, is a curiously shaped affair, which is named for 
an Indian chief ; its shape conical and so small the base that 
it looks as if some one had pared it down. Just beyond we 
rounded a point, and there spread before us, following the curv- 
ing shore, lay the object of our pilgrimage up 1,100 miles of 
river, and it seemed hardly true that we had reached Asuncion. 
There is a line of wooded hills sweeping around in a grand 
curve behind the buildings, and as the ground of the site is 
uneven, some buildings stand out very prominently ; especially 
so does the palace of Lopez, which he began building, its square 
tower with four minarets towering over all other buildings, and 
vying with the church steeples. 



XXIX. 

THE PLACE OF LOPEZ. 

THE BUSY WOMEN OF PARAGUAY — THEIR REMARKABLE SKILL 
IN LACE WORK — INDIAN POTTERY AND OTHER CURIOUS 
WARES — THE MARKETS AND THEIR MANY ATTRACTIONS. 

There are about 25,000 inhabitants in Asuncion, and Ave 
found several good wharves, back of one of which they are< 
building a custom-house that promises to be quite a fine one- 
Steamers run up twice a week from Buenos Ayres to this city, 
and when one was in I liked to frequent the wharves to see the 
bales of mate and tobacco, boxes of cigars, ferns, palms, orchids, 
and other living plants ; parrots, parroquets, small birds, deer, 
monkeys, and many small animals that were always brought 
down to be shipped to the lower river ports. There are two 
street railways, and between their tracks the ground is paved ; 
otherwise and elsewhere the streets are full of sand, which gets 
into one's shoes and seems unpleasant, but I heard several 

people complaining that it was proposed to pave the streets,. 
15 



226 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 

which they thought would make the city unhealthy, as all of 
those impurities which now sank into the sand would rest on 
top of a pavement and poison the air ! 

Walking along one of the streets, near the river, we came to 
Lopez's palace, which he had to abandon in an unfinished state 
and fly before the allies to the northward, retreating until he 
met death on the banks of the Aquidiban River, not far from the 
Bolivian frontier. The government is now finishing the building 
for its own use and it will be a very fine affair. The ground floor 
and that above are spacious and roomy, with a grand staircase, 
while a view from the tower takes in the city and surrounding 
country for miles in every direction. On the city side it has a 
large grass plat in front and toward the river two very high ter- 
races reach to the bank and command a lovely view of the wind- 
ing river with its banks. Below ground — in the basement — were 
numbers of tiny cells for prisoners, some without even a ray of 
light, and one which was only to be reached by a passage about 
six feet long, four feet from the ground, and just large enough 
to shove a man's body through ; it gave one the horrors just to 
look at these places. 

Out once more in the soft, balmy air, we found on a street 
leading to the river and just beyond the palace, a shop where 
liquid groceries were dispensed and probably exchanged with 
the ignoble red man for the numerous articles made by him, 
that were always there on sale. Bows and arrows, earthenware, 



ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 227 

and carved gourds predominated ; the bows and arrows gen- 
erally have been much used, the bow of wood with rawhide 
string, and very difficult to bend ; arrows of varying length, 
tipped with wood or spear-shaped heads of iron ground to an 
edge on both sides. 

Most of the pottery was coarse and red, but there were a few 
fine pieces, among which I secured a large, round bowl, with 
straight sides, about two feet in diameter, the inside brown, 
with indistinct patterns in black on it, the outside black, with 
an all-over Greek pattern in red bands, with white edges to 
them. There were numbers of grotesque figures of no apparent 
use, such as horses with lion's mane and tail, dogs with monkeys 
on their backs, cows with asses' ears and no horns or tail, women 
with short, fat legs, no feet, and long, slim arms, with a wreath 
of flowers or a round hat and feathers on the head. These were 
in red, black, or white, or of all three colors mixed. 

The gourds are of all sizes and shapes, small ones for pepper, 
salt, and other small articles, larger ones for meal and grain, and 
all prettily decorated, ornamented first with a pattern scratched 
on with a fish bone or pointed instrument and then colored with 
different clays. These patterns are always pretty and some- 
times beautiful ; are always geometrical and never seek to copy 
the flowing lines of flower, fruit, or other natural objects. In 
the sandy streets one often met the wild Indian woman with a 
child or two, trying to sell a few gourds or feather dusters. I 



228 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 

bought two gourds of a woman who was so repulsive in face, 
form, and dirt that it seemed unnatural to see her fondle the 
baby she carried. 

The native Paraguayans are tall and bronze skinned. The 
women are generally clad in white cotton skirt and manta, and 
the folds falling in straight lines and draping them from head 
to foot were very picturesque, and the burden carried balanced 
on the head gave them erect carriage and even gait. When we 
met a woman with a bundle that looked like cloth on her head 
we would say Nanduti in a questioning tone, and then, if she 
had any, the bundle would be lifted from her head and placed 
anywhere in the sandy street, and we all would sit down to 
enjoy a trade. 

Nanduti is Guarani for spider's-web, and is used to specify a 
lace as fine as any made in Europe and more charming because 
of its novelty. It is made with a threaded needle, web and 
pattern being woven at the same time, and is generally made 
in wheels, hence the name, and these wheels are put together 
to form borders for handkerchiefs, fans, yokes for chemises, 
trimming by the yard, and a coarse variety for sofa pillows, bed 
covers, and towel ends. The thread used for fine pieces is 
about No. 300. The workwoman stretches a bit of muslin on 
a hand frame, threads a needle, and weaves her spider-web 
wheel, attaching it at the edges to the muslin. When finished, 
she cuts it loose and begins another. It is very cheap, as one 




HANDKERCHIEF, PARAGUAYAN LACE. 



ALONG SIIOBE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 229 

can buy for $10 a handkerchief that has taken two months' labor 
to complete. They prefer gold in payment, as they use it to 
make puzzle rings and ornaments, and offering it always caused 
a reduction. It is said that they were taught by the Jesuit 
mission fathers some 300 years ago, which may be so, but it 
seems more likely to me that a native manufacture was im- 
proved and fostered by the fathers. In' these bundles we also 
found table cloths and napkins of loosely- woven cotton, with 
bands of insertion down the center and large wheels of nanduti 
set in the corners. 

Then there was a coarser knit lace, which is made of un- 
bleached cotton threads and wears like iron ; it comes in 
chemise yokes, edging, and inserting. There would be yokes of 
darned and embroidered tulle that were gems in their way, and 
at the bottom of the bundle would be pretty, serviceable ham- 
mocks of white cotton or striped twine and with a fringe falling 
along each side. When the bargain for lace or dry-goods was 
concluded, to touch our rings would suffice to make the vender 
bring from her pocket a handkerchief on which would be 
strung a number of gold puzzle rings made of slender chased 
rings, eight or nine of them, twisted so to form a solid ring 
when on the finger and falling apart as soon as taken off, re- 
quiring patience and dexterity to replace them. These women 
make the articles in their own homes all over the country and 
carry them to the towns for sale, but never sell to stores. If 



230 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 

ever their fine nanduti becomes known in this country it is sure 
to become popular and take a permanent place among their 
finest goods on the counters of our lace merchants. 

The market was a perpetual source of delight, and I went 
there every day of our stay. Raised two and three steps from 
the street was the tall, square building, occupying a square, 
and surrounded by a double row of columns reaching to the 
roof, the whole colored a deep, dark red. Crouched among the 
columns were groups of women and children, their bronze skins 
showing plainly each outline where the pure white garments 
parted, jet black hair falling down their backs in two braids or 
caught up into a careless cluster by a big comb with gold top. 

These gold combs were much prized formerly, and the 
women divided into two classes, those who had gold combs and 
those who had not. These groups were guarding piles of 
yellow maize, yams, potatoes, and mandioca. Coming and 
going were numbers of white-robed figures bearing burdens on 
their heads, from tiny bundles to big red earthen jars filled with 
water. Inside was a large, square, open court filled with low 
tables covered with merchandise, and all, even those where 
meat was cut up, served by women, for the war took so many 
of the men that women do all the work and fill all sorts of un- 
accustomed places ; a male child being a treasure beyond price 
in their eyes, the little naked fellows bare faced around as you 
pass that you may notice the sex and envy the mother accord- 



ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 231 

ingly. Here we found meat, vegetables, monkeys and other 
pets, breads of all kinds, and among them a crescent-shaped roll 
of bread and cheese baked together ; lace of the different kinds 
and native-made jewelry stands, where we purchased gold 
beads, combs, and ear-rings. There were piles of native cigars 
— excellent tobacco they are made of — and every one smokes. 
The best brand is Papa Lucas and they cost $2 a hundred. 
Just back of the market is a large barren plaza, where one of 
the Presidents was once assassinated. 



XXX. 

THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE INDEPENDENCE OF 

PARAGUAY. 

A BALL AT THE " CLUB FAMILIAR " IN HONOPv OF THE 
OCCASION — THE BELLE OF THE EVENING — NOTABLE PER- 
SONS PRESENT — OLD PALACE OF LOPEZ. 

The present government building of Asuncion is just beyond 
the unfinished palace of Lopez, on the river bank. It stands 
apart, surrounded by grass, and is rather an old-looking, two- 
storied affair. We first saw it on the 14th of May, which is a 
Paraguayan Independence Day. All the windows were open 
and the people passing in and out, and two bands playing out- 
side gave the whole a properly festive air, properly festive 
because President Escobar was holding a reception within. 
Many military personages were coming and going, and some 
civilians in broadcloth, but none of the people, none of the 
masses. They failed to take any interest except in the music, 
which was continuous, for as soon as one band stopped to take 



ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 233 

breath the other one piped up. Near-by was a goodly monu- 
ment, on which we read, " Foundation of Paraguay, 15th of 
August, 1536. First shout of liberty, 14th of May, 1811. Oath 
of the Constitution, 25th of November, 1870. Independence 
Day, 25th of December, 1842." Just beyond Avas a stretch of 
green turf in front of the cathedral, which is a fine, large old 
structure with roomy interior, two of the windows being of 
stained glass. The high altar is covered with plates of silver, 
and many ornaments of the same precious metals were about it. 
There was a curious bit of old sculptured marble for a holy- 
water basin that we were told came from ancient Rome ; if so, 
it probably has a history, and anyway I longed to hear it speak, 
that what it had witnessed of the unwritten history of Paraguay 
might have been poured into our longing ear. 

The night of the 14th we were invited to a ball given by the 
Club Familiar to celebrate the day, and I was all the more 
anxious to go as it was whispered in the air that the adherents 
of the political party named u Blue," or Conservative, had 
agreed to assassinate the ex-secretary of state, Senor Cavallero, 
that evening at this same ball. He belonged to the Radicals, 
or " Reds," and it was determined to strike at him because he 
was believed to be a modern Warwick, the true power behind 
the throne. As we approached the scene of festivities we 
noticed double guards at every corner, and at the entrance a 
file of soldiers was seated, with another file concealed behind a 



234 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 

screen of trees in the patio. Either precautions were too well 
taken or they were ashamed to have a scrimmage before so 
many naval officers of the mother Republic, whose Stars and 
Stripes were floating from a war-ship in their harbor for the first 
time for over thirty years. Anyway the evening passed off 
quietly, and but for the guards and the absence of some 
Paraguayan officials and friends, who told me they considered 
discretion the better part of valor, one might have fancied all 
at peace. 

The club-house is large and the patio was beautifully 
decorated with flowers, and amidst them was set the supper 
table and the bands of music placed. Eight connecting rooms 
were opened for dancing, brilliantly lighted with gas, and as 
the music was continuous, the floor was always occupied by 
dancers. As usual, the girls were pretty and the men carried 
themselves well. Of course there was a sprinkling of English- 
men — one sees them everywhere in this world, struggling 
for a living, because their little island is full to overflowing, 
and those who drop over the edges must go somewhere. 
I was amused to see some of them ostentatiously displaying 
red or blue handkerchiefs to indicate their political pref- 
erences, as if an Englishman born i:i Britain was ever any- 
thing else but an Englishman, or could take any but the most 
evanescent interest in foreign politics. It takes an Irishman 
to go heart and soul into another man's fight, and generously 



ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 235 

spend his blood in a brother's cause. The wife of our vice- 
consul, Mine. Saquier, bore off the palm for beauty, and as 
a girl she was called the Flower of Paraguay. Still young, 
she is beautiful in feature, form, and expression, as well as 
graceful in movement. Her father was called from his house 
and shot by order of Francisco Solano Lopez, because he was 
of Spanish birth, and no foreigner could then live in Paraguay. 
President Escobar received us with words of cordial greeting 
and a pleasant smile. He is quite tall, broad-shouldered, 
with thin brown hair and beard, the latter almost hiding 
his bad teeth, while his features and skin indicate a certain 
amount of Indian blood. Afterward we frequently met him 
riding through the streets, attended by a single orderly. 
Near him, at the ball, stood Seiior Cavallero, a tall, portly, 
gray-haired man, with an intelligent face. I often wonder 
if his enemies have killed him yet. Supper was served all the 
evening, and consisted of croquettes, sandwiches, cakes, port 
wine, and beer. Quadrilles, waltzes, polkas, and the danza 
were the dances. The minister of foreign affairs, Senor 
Centurion, and his wife, were among those we met, his face 
being remarkable for a bad scar on each side of the jaws, 
as if a bullet had plowed its way through, and his wife 
afterward told me that such was the case, and that he re- 
ceived the wound at the time Lopez was killed on the banks 
of the Aquidiban, her husband having been with him at the 



236 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-YfAB. 

time, and escaping by hiding in the woods and remaining 
there in spite of his terrible wound until the Brazilians had 
passed on. 

The old palace of Lopez, where he resided, is now the 
post-office, and quite near it is an unfinished copy of the 
Invalides in Paris, which he intended for his mausoleum. 
An unfinished theater or opera-house also bears testimony 
to his passion in the way of erecting large buildings, nearly 
all of which are unfinished. The outer walls of the theater, 
rising two stories high, are all that remains of that building, 
which was so large that it is a wonder as to where he expected 
to find an audience. I was told that any one who would 
build or finish off rooms or shops inside the walls could get 
their rent free for ten years, the government hoping thus 
to get a finished building, good for some use at the end of a 
decade. The railway station is a large one, whence starts 
a line, the first built in South America, for the town of 
Encarnacion, on the Parana River. It is finished as far as 
Paraguari, and will soon be extended to Villa Rica. At 
Encarnacion it expects to meet an Argentine line. We were 
anxious to make the trip as far as Paraguari, but advised 
not to, for our time was limited, and we were told that the 
roadbed had not been repaired since the English originally 
laid the line,away back in the sixties. 



XXXI. 

SUBURBS OF ASUNCION. 

BRIGHT AMERICAN SCHOOLMA'AMS IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS 
— HOW MATE LEAVES ARE GATHERED AND PACKED- 
PARAGUAYAN MAN-OF-WAR, " PIRAPO." 

The pleasantest excursion that we made in the environs of 
Asuncion was to the country house of Dr. Stewart, the British 
consul, but a man who has made Paraguay so long his home 
that he is quite identified with it, and during the war was 
Lopez's chief medical officer. We rode a long way in the 
street-car, and finally alighted at the entrance to a shady lane, 
down which our way lay for some time until we came to a large 
gate, that gave entrance to a broad, uneven lawn, dotted with 
trees and sheep, lying in front of a large house, to the left of 
which were meadows with lovely trees, while to the right the 
forest stretched a mile in a seemingly unbroken line to the 
river; the forest belonging to the estate. 

Mrs. Stewart and her daughters welcomed us. She is a full- 



238 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 

blooded Paraguayan, with skin as white as a Saxon, tall, fine 
figure, and fine features. She was at home during all the war, 
and could a tale of hardship and horror unfold did she choose 
to speak, as her husband's good fortune i:i escaping after Lopez 
had doomed him, irritated the tyrant, and he made her suffer 
accordingly. 

Back of the house is a charming garden filled with many 
strange native fruits and flowers, among them orchids, 
delicious of odor and fascinating in color and shape. One 
spike of lavender, of butterfly-like blossoms, with rich, heavy 
fragrance, lingers especially in my memory. Then there were 
many strangers that the doctor had sent for, among them a 
sandalwood tree, tall and flourishing. 

Another suburb which is rapidly growing to be a town is 
called Villa Morra. It is reached by street-cars, and on the 
way we passed the central cemetery, where I wished to alight 
and examine ; but such a clamor was raised about contracting 
dreadful diseases that I was fain to be content with a passing 
glimpse of white head-stones and crosses, decorated with 
wreaths of artificial flowers and ribbons. Villa Morra was 
started by an Italian gentleman, who owned the land, and as 
he also owned a street-car line, he connected the two, built a 
hotel, laid out villa sites in the forest, and named the place for 
himself. 

We had a nice breakfast at the hotel, which had only a few 



ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 239 

bedrooms, but the combination dining and billiard room was 
unusually spacious. Across the road, in the forest, surrounded 
by fern-trees and begonias, was a public bathhouse ; the large 
tubs filled with fresh spring water, looking very cool and 
inviting. We took tea with some English acquaintances in 
one of the houses that bordered the road. One of the doors to 
the parlor opened on to the road, the other into the forest, a 
place where the ducks and hens met with all sorts of adventures 
and seldom came home at night as numerous a flock as started 
out in the morning. The stable was a square of logs piled up 
to keep the horses from wild animals, and was rather primitive, 
but all the climate called for. 

It was delightful to sit almost surrounded by the forest and 
watch the shades of green shift and change as the wind passed 
over the ferns and through the branches of the trees, but the 
talk of our host and hostess was all of the halcyon days to come, 
when their ship should have reached port and they be settled 
once more in England to enjoy life. In the forest were begonia 
blossoms, and along the roads hibiscus, while the gardens were 
ablaze with blossoms, a feast of color, and a woman near the 
Church of San Roque, whom we went to see making nanduti, 
gave me some of the largest, finest-colored La France roses that 
I ever saw anywhere. 

The hotel in the city is on the Calle Palmas, and is a large 
building with nice airy rooms, but none of the modern con- 



240 ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAB. 

veniences. The dining-room is the patio and the food excel- 
lent, as well as the fruit. Not far away was the public school, 
as Paraguay has copied the Argentine in adopting our public 
school system, and has imported two United States young 
women to begin the work — a Miss Wales and a Miss Reid. They 
were furnished with a fine large house, were accumulating 
excellent apparatus, and were paid good salaries regularly. Of 
course, it was exile, but Miss Wales seemed too much inter- 
ested to mind, and Miss Reid was looking forward to matrimony. 
The children were of the best families and attendance good, 
the hours of attendance being somewhat longer than with us, 
and a few extra branches taught. 

There were a good many pretty leopard skins for sale, as the 
animals were numerous farther up country, and a stuffed skin 
was presented to us, which not only proved a thing of beauty 
and a joy forever, but kept the mischievous monkey out of the 
cabin. He first saw it when coming down by way of the hang- 
ing lamp, and could hardly believe his eyes ; but when he was 
sure, fled with a howl of terror that brought all hands to the 
scene. One day, in wandering about, we found an old woman 
who spoke Spanish, and she invited us into her little hut of 
two rooms and offered milk to refresh us. Everything was 
neat as a pin, and in the adjoining room her pretty daughter 
was teaching a few little fellows their A B C's for a few cents 
a week each one. Doors and windows habitually stood open,. 



/ 



ALONG SHORE WITH A MAN-OF-WAR. 241 

and the passer-by could see plainly what was going on within, 
and I was struck with the cleanliness and tidiness of the poor 
people. 

Of course, as our visit was in winter, we missed the intense 
tropical heat and the clouds of insects that annoy one con- 
tinually by day and by night, but the people were most kind 
and courteous, opening their houses and entertaining us in 
every way. Our consul was a bachelor living at the hotel, but 
he and the vice-consul, Senor Saguier, gave a ball to the 
officers at Senor Saguier's house, and other festivities were 
planned, when all were ended by orders for the ship to leave 
for Buenos Ayres. We used to see great piles of mate bags, 
and not far from where we were began the yerbales, or plains, 
where the mate* tree nourishes. As I have said before, it is a 
species of holly. Ilex Paraguay ensis is the technical name, 
and the leaves are gathered from the wild trees. It does not 
seem to be cultivated at all. 

A fire is built on the ground, over this a dome of brush is built, 

and this dome thickly covered with mate" twigs bearing leaves. 

When the leaves are dried by the fire they are packed into hide 

bags, which hide, being raw, is flexible and the mate is forced 

in with sticks until it is packed as tightly as possible ; then the 

bag is put in the sun to dry and shrink, the result being a 

package as hard as a stone and very heavy for its bulk. Some 

packages must have been three feet square at the sewed edges, 

16 



242 ALONG SHORE WITH A M^jy-VF-WAE. 

and others not more than a foot, yet some of the latter would 
weigh eight pounds. The hair of the animal is left on, which 
gives variety in color and makes piles of them picturesque. 

There was a brick factory and kiln below the city, and here, 
as everywhere on the river, the houses were made of these kiln- 
dried bricks and covered inside and out with adobe-like plaster. 
They have one little-man-of-war, the Pirapo, a small steamer which 
came down the river while we Avere there, and when visited by 
one of our officers he was asked to excuse the appearance of the 
deck, as they had been in a fight and had not had time to clean 
up. They then had on board the body of a general who had been 
killed in the revolution up at San Pedro a few days previously, 
and as he was quite a man he had a large funeral, the President 
in person attending. 

A few days later we steamed down the swiftly-flowing river 
and Paraguay vanished from our view to become a memory 
of green hills ; lovely valleys ; romantic, heroic history, and 
pleasant, gracious people. A gem of a country set in the bosom 
of the South American Continent. 






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Son Of Man; or, Sequel to Evolution. 

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This work, in many respects, very remarkably discusses the next 
step in the Evolution of Man. It is in perfect touch with advanced 
Christian Evolutionary thought, but takes a step beyond the present 
position of Religion Leaders. 

Price, postpaid, $1.25. 



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the price. 

Arena Publishing Company, 



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From the Press of the Arena Publishing Company, 



The Dream Child. 

A fascinating romance of two worlds. By Florence Hunt- 
ley. Price: paper, 50 cents; cloth, $1.00. 



A Mute Confessor. 

The romance of a Southern town. By Will N. Harben, 
author of " White Marie," "Almost Persuaded," etc. Price: 
paper, 50 cents; cloth, $1.00. 

Redbank ; Life on a Southern Plantation. 

By M. L. Cowles. A typical Southern story by a Southern 
woman. Price: paper, 00; cloth, $1.00. 

Psychics. Facts and Theories. 

By Rev. Minot J. Savage. A thoughtful discussion ov' 
Psychical problems. Price: paper, 50 cents; cloth, $1.00. 

Civilization's Inferno: Studies in the Social Cellar. 
By B. O. Flower. I. Introductory chapter. II. Society's 
Exiles. III. Two Hours in the Social Cellar. IV. The 
Democracy of Darkness. V. Why the Ishmaelites Multiply. 
VI. The Froth and the Dregs. VII. A Pilgrimage and a 
Vision. VIII. Some Facts and a Question. IX. What of the 
Morrow? Price: paper, 50 cents; cloth, $1.00. 



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The Rise of the Swiss Republic. 
By W. D. McCrackan, A. M. 

It contains over four hundred pages, printed from new and handsome 
type, on a fine quality of heavy paper. The margins are wide, and the 
volume is richly bound in cloth. 

Price, postpaid, $3.00. 

Sultan to Sultan. 

By M. French-Sheldon (Bebe Bwana). 

Being a thrilling account of a remarkable expedition to the Masai and 
other hostile tribes of East Africa, which was planned and commanded 
bythis intrepid woman. A Sumptuous Volume of Travels. 
Handsomely illustrated ; printed on coated paper and richly bound in 
African red silk-finished cloth. 

Price, postpaid, $5.00. 

The League of the Iroquois. 

Iiy Benjamin Hathaway. 

It is instinct with good taste and poetic feeling, affluent of pictur- 
esque description and graceful portraiture, and its versification is fairly 
melodious. — Harper's (Magazine. 

Has the charm of Longfellow's "Hiawatha." — Albany Eveninv 
journal. 

Of rare excellence and beauty. — (American Wesley an. 

Evinces fine qualities of imagination, and is distinguished by re- 
markable grace and fluency. — Boston Gazette. 

The publication of this poem alone may well serve as a mile-post in 
marking the pathway of American literature. The work is a marvel 
of legendary lore, and will be appreciated by every earnest reader. — 
'Boston Times. 

Price, postpaid, cloth, $1.00; Red Line edition, $1.50. 



For sale by all booksellers. Sent postpaid upon receipt of 
the price. 

Arena Publishing Company, 

Copley Square, B05TON, A\ASS. 






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